The man who took three people hostage at a Wytheville post office in December will spend the next 40 years in prison.
Warren Taylor was sentenced Thursday morning in Roanoke.
The 54-year-old from Tennessee entered a surprise guilty plea in May to three counts of kidnapping and two weapons counts.
He admitted to holding a post office worker and two customers hostage for nine hours on December 23rd of last year.
During the incident he fired his gun and threatened to blow up the the post office. Taylor said he was unhappy with the government.
Marjorie Crockett was working at the post office. She testified Thursday Taylor held a gun to her head and made her call 911. We asked whether she was afraid for her life during those intense nine hours.
"Yes...yes, and the longer it dragged out, the worse it got because you didn't know, the more you sit there, you don't know what's going to do, cause he never came up with real demands that he wanted, and we were like, 'How are you going to get out of this.' And he never could come up with anything. Yeah, basically toward the end I got worried about the end because we thought the bomb was real," said Crockett.
The U.S. Attorney was asking for a life sentence. Taylor's public defender was hoping for the minimum 25 years. In the end, the judge imposed a sentence of 40 years. There is a chance he could eventually get out, but many think that is unlikely because of his health.
Warren Taylor Given 40 Year Sentence
ROANOKE, VIRGINIA -- The Bristol, Tenn. man who held several people hostage at gun point inside the Wytheville, Va. Post Office on December 23, 2009, was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia on federal firearms and kidnapping charges.
Warren Taylor, 54, was indicted in January 2010 and charged with a variety of crimes related to the December 23, 2009 incident. Taylor previously pleaded guilty to one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, one count of possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of a felony and three counts of kidnapping. Today in District Court, he was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.
“Warren Taylor took hostages in a United States Post Office as a means of expressing his displeasure with the federal government,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “Rather than express his views in a peaceful manner, he chose violence as a form of protest. While our laws protect every Americas’s right to express his or her opinions, they also provide for harsh punishment for violent acts. Under those laws, Mr. Taylor was justly sentenced to 40 years in prison today. I want to commend all of the law enforcement agencies and officers who responded to the Wytheville Post Office and negotiated a peaceful end to the hostage standoff. Their fine work ensured that law, rather than violence, prevailed.”
Taylor has previously admitted to entering the Wytheville, Va., Post Office on December 23, 2009 and holding Douglas Robinson, James Oliver and Majorie Austin against their will for the purpose of, including but not limited to, making known his displeasure with the government and policies of the United States.
The defendant also admitted to possessing and using a firearm during the kidnapping. At the time of his arrest, Taylor was in possession of one Glock .40 caliber pistol, one North American Arms .22 caliber revolver, one Taurus .17 caliber revolver and one Taurus .45 caliber Model PT 1911 semi-automatic pistol and ammunition.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, The Virginia State Police, The United State’s Marshal’s Service, the Wytheville, Virginia Police Department and the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Giorno is prosecuting the case for the United States.
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A man who took three people hostage at a Wytheville post office in December is due in court on Thursday for sentencing.
Warren Taylor faces at least 15 years in prison and could get sentenced to life in prison when he goes before a judge in Roanoke on Thursday.
The 54-year-old from Tennessee entered a surprise guilty plea in May to three counts of kidnapping and two weapons counts.
He admitted to holding a post office worker and two customers hostage for nine hours on December 23rd of last year.
During the incident he fired his gun and threatened to blow up the the post office.
Taylor said he was unhappy with the government.
