10 years in jail for bank thief; Robber fired gun over teller.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Gary V. Murray

WORCESTER - A Holyoke man who fired a shot over a teller's head during a bank robbery in Auburn last year was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment yesterday.

Assistant District Attorney William T. Walsh Jr. said Travis C. Hardrick, 34, held up the TD Banknorth branch at 614 Southbridge St., Auburn, on the morning of June 21 and fired off a round from a .357-caliber revolver during the holdup. After fleeing the bank with $35,000 in stolen money, Mr. Hardrick led police on a high-speed chase that ended in his arrest when he crashed the rental car he was driving into a utility pole, the prosecutor said.

Mr. Hardrick pleaded guilty Jan. 2 in Worcester Superior Court to three counts of masked armed robbery, nine counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawfully carrying a firearm with two prior crimes of violence or drug offenses, assault and battery, three counts of wanton destruction of property, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, driving to endanger, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, receiving stolen property and resisting arrest. Charges of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, use of a motor vehicle without authority and being a habitual criminal were dismissed.

Judge John S. McCann sentenced Mr. Hardrick yesterday to 10 years to 10 years and a day in state prison and to a consecutive sentence of one year in the House of Correction, with a recommendation that the House of Correction sentence be served at the Western Massachusetts Alcohol Treatment Center. The judge also placed Mr. Hardrick on probation for five years, to begin upon his release from custody.

Citing Mr. Hardrick's long criminal record and the seriousness of the charges, Mr. Walsh recommended a state prison sentence of 15 to 20 years. Mr. Hardrick was facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years on the charge of carrying a firearm.

The prosecutor said Mr. Hardrick "put everyone there in...