A self-proclaimed white-supremacist, convicted of using a bomb scare to rob a Salt Lake bank, was sentenced to serve 20 years in federal prison but not before subjecting the court to a racist rant.

In June, it took a jury just over 12 minutes to find 51-year-old Jeremiah Vaughn Gregory guilty of bank robbery after Gregory spent two days defending himself in court.

During a sentencing hearing on Thursday, Gregory came close to directly threatening the life of U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell.

Dressed in a yellow jail jumpsuit and with hands and feet bound in chains, Gregory said, "Judges like you have soiled and defiled," this country. "Retribution will be swift, certain, your honor, and exact a very heavy toll ... you will not escape the wrath that you so rightfully deserve."

Gregory demanded a "racially pure" homeland and said he will be "proud" to take future actions against the government. He said he would have received more respect from the court if he were a "poor, uneducated, drug-dealing Negro."

Cassell made it very clear that Gregory had been treated with as much respect as any other defendant in court and sentenced him to serve 240 months.

Federal investigators said Gregory entered the Redwood branch of Wells Fargo Bank, 1955 W. North Temple, on May 6, 2005, and handed the bank teller a note demanding money and saying he had a bomb.

A bank clerk testified during trial that Gregory had a briefcase and was holding a black device with a red button that looked like a detonator. Gregory made off with $700 and was later arrested in a motel near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, after having robbed yet another bank in Montana. The bomb turned out to be a hoax.

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Gregory is already serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty in the Montana robbery. Cassell ordered Thursday that the 20-year sentence in the Utah robbery run consecutive to the Montana case. Gregory also has a pending case out of Colorado on an assault on a prison guard.

Gregory gave Cassell a hand-written memorandum, indicating he wants to appeal his sentence to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

A federal prosecutor did not indicate whether or not they plan to file additional charges against Gregory for the threatening remarks or if the plan is to turn him over to Colorado to deal with the assault case.


E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com

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