AURORA | A man convicted of robbing an Aurora movie theater and restaurant last year, holding seven employees at gunpoint before bolting with $7,000, has been sentenced to 102 years behind bars.
Amir Bland, 34, received the sentence last week in Arapahoe County District Court, according to a statement from prosecutors.
Bland was convicted in April of 18 counts of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit theft, theft, menacing and conspiracy to commit menacing.
In a statement, prosecutors Sibylle Clark and Chelsea Koch said: “This lengthy sentence ensures that a violent criminal who terrorized seven hard-working victims late at night will never be a risk to anyone in the community again.”
According to Arapahoe County prosecutors, Bland and another person donned masks and brandished guns during the January 2012 robbery of Movie Tavern, 18605 E. Hampden Ave.
The robbers confronted seven employees inside, held them at gunpoint and took money from the employees, the safe and cash registers, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Bland seemed to focus on the female employees, jamming his gun in their faces and dragging one to a ticket booth to get cash.
In less than two minutes, the robbers made off with more than $7,000 in cash, prosecutors said.
Bland then led police on a high speed chase but was eventually arrested. When police nabbed Bland, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and had a gun holster on his hip, prosecutors said.
Aurora police said in April that investigators believe they have identified the second suspect and planned to file charges against them, but it wasn’t clear Tuesday if that suspect had yet been charged.