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GREENSBORO — A lookout for the so-called “Bluetooth Bandits” received at least 24 years in prison Wednesday for her role in nine bank robberies since 2006.

Sabrina Lynn Phillips, 26, of 5504-E Tomahawk Drive, Greensboro, pleaded guilty to the bank robberies and an armed robbery at Celebration Station.

The robberies netted more than $525,000, according to Bill Wood, a Guilford County assistant district attorney.

Defense attorney William Davis asked the judge to be lenient on Phillips, a mother of three. He said Phillips was under the control of co-defendant Christopher Brian Collins. Phillips was afraid for her family, Davis said.

Wood argued that Phillips took an integral role in the robberies, which might have ended sooner if she had not helped.

He said Phillips sat in her car, sometimes with another lookout in a separate car, and used cell phones to tell colleagues in the bank what was happening outside.

The FBI dubbed the suspects the “Bluetooth Bandits” because of the wireless phone devices seen in the ears of some robbers in surveillance video.

Phillips told investigators she would create diversions by calling police with false reports of domestic assaults or other crimes at nearby locations to draw law enforcement away from the robberies.

She also arranged to create a fire, and elicited the aid of a friend to set it, in an apartment complex dumpster as a distraction, Wood said.

“It almost sounds like a movie,” said Superior Court Judge Henry E. Frye Jr.

Several tellers who were on duty during the robberies testified Wednesday that they remain fearful because of what happened. Most said they still have nightmares.

“I can’t imagine what they have to do to get back some kind of peace,” Frye said.

Two of Phillips’ six co-defendants have pleaded guilty for their role in the crimes, Wood said. They will be sentenced after they testify if needed, he said.

The other cases are pending.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com