HILLSVILLE, Va. — A Mount Airy man will serve five years in prison for his role in robbing two payday loan businesses and attempting to rob a bank in Cana during a three-week period in 2007.

Carl Anthony Berrier, 32, was sentenced May 20 in Carroll County Circuit Court by Judge Brett Geisler for two counts of armed robbery and one count of attempting to enter a banking institution to commit larceny in July of 2007. Geisler imposed a total sentence of 30 years on each of the three charges. After Berrier serves five years, he will be released on supervised probation. Geisler also banned Berrier from the property of all three businesses and ordered Berrier to pay $3,200 in restitution. Attorney Brandon Boyles represented Berrier.

Berrier was charged with armed robbery at Speedy Cash and Cash to Go in Cana after police say he wielded a knife and demanded money at both businesses in July of 2007. Another robbery attempt was foiled at Cana’s BB&T bank by a locked door.

Berrier pled guilty to all three charges on April 23. His eventual arrest came after authorities noticed the robberies followed a pattern, all occurring close to 10 a.m. on Thursdays or Fridays. Chief Deputy Glenn Nester of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office was staked out in Cana when Berrier made his final robbery attempt. Nester pulled Berrier over in his Chevy S-10 Blazer when he noticed the license tag had been removed from the vehicle. Nester also found a knife, a mask, gloves, and a trash bag.

In a confession made to Carroll Investigators Venton Smith and Freddie Bobbitt, Berrier said he used the $1,600 from the first robbery at Speedy Cash to pay bills because he and his wife didn’t have any money in their checking account.

“I was fixing to lose my house to the bank. My wife is disabled due to a car wreck that she was in and can’t work,” Berrier wrote. “The bank told me I had to have $1,400 and some odd dollars by last Friday or they were going to take papers out. My wife started to cry, so I done this in a desperate situation.”

Berrier wrote that he also came away with $1,600 from his second robbery, this time at Cash to Go. He said he gave the money to his wife to catch up house payments, medical bills and other bills. Berrier said his wife thought he was borrowing the money from his uncle. Berrier wrote that he didn’t want to commit the robberies, but he was in a desperate situation and was afraid of losing everything.

“I didn’t want to do this. I was afraid. I am glad it’s over and will do anything to make it right,” Berrier wrote. “I have never done anything like this and will never do it again. I am sorry about scaring the girls at all the places I took money. I would have never hurt them. I just needed the money. I was in a bind.”