An admitted drug addict who stole $10,000 from a Midway-area bank has been sentenced to eight years and four months in state prison. Jimmy Lowell Roberts, 42, was ordered to repay $9,900 to the Wells Fargo Bank at 3505 Sports Arena Blvd. for the June 26 holdup. During Roberts’ sentencing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns recommended to prison officials that Roberts participate in a 500-hour drug program. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Orabona recommended a 103-month prison term for Roberts while Roberts’ attorney, Timothy Garrison, urged a two-year sentence. Garrison said Roberts has “a lifelong addition to narcotics” and has “terrible mental health problems.” The defendant has used methamphetamine, heroin and PCP in the past and has not held a job longer than 30 days, according to prosecution documents. Roberts has been in state prison three times for burglary, possession of an illegal drug and being a felon in the possession of a handgun. Although Roberts pleaded guilty to the Midway-area bank robbery, he can appeal his sentence, which his attorney did Feb. 24 to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Roberts is now housed at a high-security penitentiary in central California, according to officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. In June, Roberts walked into the bank and handed a teller a note reading: “Put the money in the BAG! And no one gets Hurt. You put a Die Pack in the Bag and you Die! Look if you don’t believe me.” The teller said Roberts showed her a revolver in his waistband. A customer found a $100 bill Roberts dropped and gave it to a teller. The bill represented the difference in the order to repay $9,900 instead of the stolen $10,000. The teller was just about to take $10,000 in cash to the vault when Roberts approached her. She alerted another employee about the robbery but Roberts demanded that she hurry and give him money. Garrison told the judge Roberts held up the bank after he had been drinking. He was homeless at the time and took a bus to the robbery. Garrison said Roberts had attempted suicide in the past and came from a broken home in which he had been physically and emotionally abused. At the time, Roberts’ wife and their three children were living in a homeless shelter but he had not been staying with them, according to court records. He was arrested July 3 in a Los Angeles hotel by FBI agents.