Elkhart trio sentenced in Niles heist

NILES — Three Elkhart men convicted of holding up the Berrien Teachers Credit Union, 1501 S. 11th St., have been sentenced in federal court in Grand Rapids, with one receiving 18 years in prison. U.S. Attorney Donald Davis said Travis Allen, 27, and Antiowan Loftin, 26, each received seven years and Chester Higgins, 31, received the 18-year sentence handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff. Higgin will serve his sentence after completing an 18-year sentence in Indiana for another armed robbery of a bank, Davis said. The credit union branch in Niles was robbed twice, initially on Oct. 11, 2007. Davis said Loftin dropped off Allen, Higgins and Devarence Kimbrough who brandished handguns and forced employees to lie on the floor while the men scooped up money from the teller drawers and vault. They escaped with just more than $207,000, Davis said. On Jan. 18, 2008, Kimbrough and two other men, Glenn Porter, 22, and Travis Curry, 21, returned to the credit union to rob it again but this time they were confronted by an armed security guard. Davis said Porter was shot in the buttocks and Kimbrough was shot twice in the chest and upper body. Later, after the robbers made their getaway, Kimbrough was dropped off at Memorial Hospital, South Bend, where he died. Porter and Curry were later arrested and prosecuted in federal court, with Porter receiving 12½ and a half years and Curry seven years. After their release from prison, Allen, Loftin and Higgins will be required to serve five years of supervised release. They also were ordered to pay restitution.