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GREENSBORO - An indignant Christopher Collins was sentenced on Friday to at least 100 years in prison after he was convicted of leading a group of six other people to commit 10 armed robberies in 2006 and 2007.

"Why would you give me 100 years?" Collins said to Judge Stuart Albright after Albright read his sentence and just before being led from the courtroom. Collins received 10 sentences of at least 8 1/2 years, to be served one after another, followed by five sentences of at least 3 years each.

In issuing the sentence, Albright said Collins was the ringleader of the group and castigated him for using other people to help him commit the robberies -- once even involving his 2-year-old daughter.

"You, sir, were the mastermind behind this organized crime," Albright said. "You were the principal leading this band of lawless criminals.... You included your two-year-old daughter in at least one felonious conspiracy charge. Shame on you."

In calculating Collins' sentence, Albright considered a 1996 conviction Collins received for a bank robbery in New York.

"You were let out of prison and in a few years you committed the same crime," Albright said. "You just became a better criminal."

Collins was convicted Thursday of 10 counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, 10 counts of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Three bank employees who were victims of the "Bluetooth bandits" took the stand to talk about the impact the robberies had on their lives.

The FBI gave the thieves their nickname because of the wireless devices that could be seen in the ears of some robbers in surveillance videos.

Robert Maxey, an employee of Patrick Henry National Bank, said he had to change jobs after the robbery and now works a shift where he has to spend nights away from his family.

"Even though there was no physical harm done, there were victims in this case," Maxey said.

Maxey told the court that he hoped Collins could discover God's mercy and brought a Bible to the stand, asking the judge to give it to Collins.

Two bank employees also described their fear during and since the robberies. One said every time she sees a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt she wants to hide under her desk.

Another cried as she described the fear she lives with, and held her hands inches apart to show how near Collins held a gun to her face when the two were inside the bank's vault. She said she wakes up at night and can still see the gun pointed at her face.

Collins offered an apology to the victims after they made their statements. He said Maxey had affected him and he was going to try to change and be better, and he was worried about his family getting by without him.

Albright also entered a civil judgment against Collins for more than $49,000, the amount of money lost by the banks because of the robberies.

"Not only, Mr. Collins, did you rob them, you terrorized them; you threatened them; you put guns to their head," Albright said. "You changed them for the rest of their lives. They have a life sentence."

Three of Collins' group have pleaded guilty to crimes in connection with the armed robbery spree and three more have yet to stand trial. They are currently scheduled to be in court in early March. 

From Friday's News & Record:

GREENSBORO — After days of tearful testimony from frightened bank tellers, a jury found a member of the “Bluetooth bandits” guilty of 22 crimes in connection with a 1 1/2-year armed robbery spree.

Christopher Brian Collins, 36, of Greensboro was found guilty Thursday of 22 charges in connection with nine armed bank robberies and a robbery at Celebration Station.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation gave the group its nickname because of the wireless devices that could be seen in the ears of some robbers in surveillance videos.

“It was not cut-and-dry for us,” jury forewoman Lisa Jones said after the jury was dismissed. “There was a time I was afraid we would not be able to reach a unanimous verdict.”

Collins was charged with 10 counts each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon. He also was charged with attempting to discharge a firearm into an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The “Bluetooth bandits” committed nine robberies at local banks in 2006 and 2007. More than $500,000 in cash was stolen. The other robbery was at Celebration Station, where Collins shot at the windshield of an occupied pickup, prosecutors said.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about two hours before returning their verdict.

Jones said she felt pulled emotionally between the tearful testimony of frightened bank employees and the sight of Collins’ 2-year-old daughter — whom a guilty verdict would leave fatherless — in the courtroom.

Jones said she cried at home Wednesday night after the day’s testimony, upset by what she had heard but not sure she could find Collins guilty.

“Several of us kept saying, 'If he gets off ... if he does it again. ...’ ”

But after reviewing a photo of Collins alongside images from security cameras at the banks, the jurors were all convinced of Collins’ guilt.

“It was a really hard case,” Jones said. “I’m just glad he’s off the street.”

Collins did not testify at the trial, and his attorney, Graham Holt, did not present any evidence or call any witnesses after the prosecution finished presenting its case Thursday.

Assistant District Attorney Bill Wood presented testimony from people claiming to be Collins’ co-conspirators in the robberies, bank employees who had been robbed and police officers, including Detective Jack Steinburg, who obtained a confession from Collins.

Wood also presented items taken from the home of Collins’ girlfriend: two guns,  cash and bags like those described by witnesses at the robberies.

“This man, in 18 months, committed a lifetime of crime,” Wood said in his closing argument.

“Whatever he gets, he brought it on himself.”

Holt said in his closing argument that the state had not met its burden to prove that it was Collins who had committed the robberies, and he encouraged the jurors to think critically about the unsigned confession the state used for evidence.

“These are a lot of serious crimes alleged, and (Wood) has no one putting Christopher Collins at the scene of these crimes,” Holt said in his closing argument. “He hasn’t been able to prove who did it.”

But the jury was persuaded that Collins had committed each of the 22 crimes of which he was accused.

Collins’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9:30 today.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com