Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A construction worker who robbed a Key West credit union while on his lunch break in March 2008 was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison, but will get credit for the 21 months he already has spent in the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island.

That means Michael Howe Carlisle likely will be transported to a Florida Department of Corrections facility, booked, and then released, said Monroe County Assistant State Attorney Demetrios Efstratiou.

Carlisle, 61, pleaded guilty Monday to the robbery of a Keys Federal Credit Union office in the Overseas Market shopping center on North Roosevelt Boulevard, said Efstratiou.

Circuit Court Judge David Audlin sentenced the former Big Pine Key resident to 18 months in prison and 24 months probation, with credit for time already served, Efstratiou said.

Carlisle pleaded "straight up," meaning he did so without an agreement with prosecutors, who had recommended a five-year sentence, Efstratiou said.

Carlisle apologized to the court and to the credit union during his sentencing, saying he was under stress because health benefits were about to expire for a loved one who was battling cancer, Efstratiou said.

Carlisle admitted to writing a demand for money on a deposit envelope, which he handed to a teller. Police said he then warned, "I have a gun; give me the money or someone gets hurt."

The amount taken was not disclosed.

Key West police blocked exits from the shopping center after the robbery, with officers comparing the faces of male drivers leaving the lot to a photo snapped by a surveillance camera.

They also took the photo and witness description across the street to a nearby construction site, where it turned out Carlisle worked as a landscaper.

In 2004, Carlisle pleaded guilty to purchasing cocaine and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Deputies arrested him again in 2005 for a probation violation.

alinhardt@keysnews.com