Mechanicsburg man sentenced for multiple robberies, including armed bank robbery

MECHANICSBURG, Ill. (WAND) - A Mechanicsburg man has been sentenced to 144 months in prison for multiple robbery charges, including armed bank robbery.

John W. Beck, 55, was sentenced on four counts of interference with commerce by robbery, one count of bank robbery, and one count of armed bank robbery.

He was also ordered to serve an additional 24 months for trying to escape from the Livingston County Jail.

At the sentencing hearing, evidence was presented that Beck admitted to robbing the following businesses and banks:

Dollar General in Buffalo, Illinois on April 8, 2021
Bank of Pontiac, doing business as Odell Bank, in Odell, Illinois on April 9, 2021
Fast Stop Store in Odell, Illinois on April 17, 2021
Village Pantry in Paxton, Illinois on April 18, 2021
Subway in Danville, Illinois, on April 19, 2021
Elmwood Bank, a division of Morton Community Bank, in Elmwood, Illinois on April 20, 2021

Police said that during the robbery spree, Beck stole cars from two different people, one on April 7, 2021 in Mechanicsburg and one on April 19, 2021 in Paris. They also said he stole a car from Green Hyundai in Springfield on April 16, 2021 and one from Central Illinois Motors in Springfield on April 17, 2021. Police said he also stole license plates from other vehicles that he then used on the stolen cars.

Beck was arrested on the current charges in April 2021, indicted in May 2021, and has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals since that time.

While in custody, in September 2021, Beck attempted to escape from the Livingston County Jail where he was being held.

Beck pleaded guilty to all charges in January 2022. There was no plea agreement.

At the time of his release, Beck was on supervised release for a bank robbery he committed in 2007 for which he was sentenced to 151 months. He was also on state parole for an armed robbery conviction in Champaign County. He had been released from federal prison in January 2019 and released from the Illinois Department of Corrections sentence in 2020.