Bank Robber Sentenced to 3-20 Years in Prison

A Detroit man convicted of robbing a West Bloomfield bank last month was sentenced Thursday to three to 20 years in prison by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Nanci Grant.

, 31, pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to stealing more than $1,300 in an unarmed robbery Feb. 14 at in West Bloomfield. His sentence included two additional concurrent prison terms of 18 months to 15 years each, resulting from a Jan. 15 arrest for possession of cocaine and heroin.

Forch had become addicted to heroin and was "desperate," according to his lawyer and the woman who drove the vehicle in which the robber escaped.

Southfield defense attorney Loren Dickstein explained that his client had only recently tried heroin and became badly addicted. The downward spiral happened fast.

“He tried it, got addicted, and his life was broken,” Dickstein said.

Lt. Tim Diamond said last month that Forch entered the bank branch and passed a note to a teller demanding cash. He was not armed. The employee handed over $1,300, and Forch left immediately.

Officers arrested him shortly after he fled the scene in a car that was parked behind a snowbank. The woman driving that car was Johali Lopez, 31, of Novi, who had known Forch since they went to Walled Lake Western High School together.

"I just thought we were going to run some errands," Lopez said in a phone conversation last week. Lopez said she has two children with Forch, including a 4-year-old who was in the car with them at the time of the bank robbery.

"It was a random phone call, but it was nothing out of the ordinary," she said. "I hadn't seen him for two months, but I thought that he just wanted to go to the store afterward or something.

"He had been to rehab twice for other problems, and all of us thought that he was doing better," Lopez added.

Lopez, who is attending a holistic health school in Mount Pleasant while working as a massage therapist in West Bloomfield, said she did not know Forch had taken heroin the day of the bank robbery until police told her later. That fact was confirmed by police.

"The police told me that he had taken heroin at 9:30 that morning," Lopez said. "The detective told me that they had found needles in his bag.

"If you're on that drug, I've found, you're just not thinking. You're like an animal," she said.

Forch was released from prison this year after serving two years for larceny in a building and larceny by conversion, prison records show. Prior to sentencing, he remained in custody on $500,000 bond.

Court records indicate Forch formally waived his right to a preliminary hearing in 48th District Court last month and entered the guilty plea during his initial pretrial hearing.

“He deeply regrets what he did,” Dickstein said. “Mr. Forch is a smart, congenial and conversational person, and the offense is completely out of nature for him. He just got desperate.”

According to Dickstein, Forch took full responsibility for his actions in an eloquent courtroom speech he gave at the sentencing hearing.

“He apologized to his family, to the bank teller and to his children, whom he feels he let down the most,” said Dickstein. “If not for his addiction to heroin, which is a very damaging drug, he would never have been in this situation.”

Forch was ordered to pay additional costs that included restitution for the $110 in cash that was ruined by red dye during the bank robbery and victims’ rights fees of $130 for each charge.