N.J. man get 25 years for Northeast Phila. bank robbery

Sherman Houser was paroled from a New Jersey prison on Oct. 30, 2006, and a week later, he robbed a Northeast Philadelphia bank at gunpoint.

Yesterday, Houser, 32, of Trenton, was sentenced by a federal judge in Philadelphia to 25 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony J. Wzorek, in his sentencing memorandum, described Houser as a man who "has considered crime as his life's work."

Houser was facing a much harsher sentence. The U.S. Probation Department determined that the sentencing-guidelines range for Houser was 30 years to life.

Houser's lawyer sought a term less than the minimum, however, and the request was granted by U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter.

In June, a jury found Houser guilty of the bank robbery and related offenses. Houser and an accomplice robbed the Bank of America branch at 14425 Bustleton Ave. and took $70,194. Both were armed and held the employees and customers at gunpoint.

Houser's lawyer, Margaret M. Grasso, wrote in her sentencing memorandum that he had, aside from the bank robbery, no adult convictions for violent crimes. His criminal record was the result of drug problems, she said. He had a difficult childhood and dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

In letters to the judge, Houser's mother, Mary, pleaded for her son to be shown mercy and be granted probation and consideration for a drug-rehab program.