Robbers: Tuition was motive
Andrew Butler should be a junior at the University of Toledo, where the theater major would be starring in school plays, maybe one day headed to Hollywood or Broadway.
Christopher Avery should be a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, an engineering major with a lucrative career ahead.
Instead, the men are going to prison for at least 20 years because they tried to raise tuition money with two armed holdups last summer.
Avery, 22, of College Hill, and Butler, 20, of Milford, pleaded guilty Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to two charges of aggravated robbery and six charges of kidnapping.
Butler pleaded guilty to an additional charge of vandalism stemming from damage done to the Hamilton County Justice Center after his arrest.
“Why?” Judge Steve Martin asked the men, who had no criminal records. “You’re in college, I don’t understand.”
Both men cited tuition.
Butler said tuition went up so his scholarships and financial aid were not enough.
“I was stressed out,” he said. “I needed more money for college.”
Avery said an internship at Kroger fell through, leaving no money for summer classes.“I was strapped for cash,” he said. “I thought I had nothing to lose.”
The men said they faced two options: steal the money or drop out.
That’s when the two friends hatched a plan to get the cash they needed.[...]
The logical result of the entitlement mentality.
Whatever happened to working your way through school?
