Armored Truck Driver’s Assailant Gets 25-Year Term

A Pomona man who shot and permanently maimed an armored truck driver during a botched robbery in May was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison.

Mark A. Blount, 26, received the maximum sentence for the shooting of John Statkus, 25, at an automated teller machine. Judge Donald A. McCartin noted Blount’s possession of a gun, his intent to injure, and his criminal record dating to age 15, which included armed assault, burglary and parole violations.

“I feel sorry for the defendant because he didn’t mean to do this, but he was a disaster waiting to happen,” McCartin said.

Blount’s “total failure to respond to any meaningful supervision makes this situation especially aggravated,” McCartin added. “He is unable to function outside of incarceration.”

Earlier, as the prosecution made final pleas for the maximum sentence, the judge made clear his intent.

“If it weren’t for a freak situation that Mr. Statkus survived, I’d apply the death sentence and just go home,” he said. “It’s a miracle that (Mr. Statkus) is here.”

Before the sentencing, Statkus’ wife, Carrie, 23, of Fullerton, faced Blount and enumerated her husband’s losses, including that of some brain function, vocal chord movement, dreams and memory. He has two bullets still lodged in his body, scars, catheters and a stomach feeding tube.

“You have taught me a lot,” she said, in a soft, steady voice. “You taught me exactly what hell is and how strong the feelings of hate, anger and disgust can be. I truly despise you.”

Tears trickled down John Statkus’ face and he nodded when the judge called his survival a miracle.

Statkus, whose voice is a whisper because of damaged vocal chords, said he felt “pretty good” about the sentence.

The former Marine who had hoped to be a police officer has been receiving worker’s compensation since the shooting, his wife said. He probably will never work again, Deputy Dist. Atty. Arnold Westra said.

Blount’s wife, Charmaine, who is a youth counselor, slipped out of the courtroom before the judge had finished speaking.

The shooting occurred at a 7-Eleven in Garden Grove about 7 a.m. on May 16, 1991. Statkus, a Wells Fargo driver, was returning to his armored truck after replenishing an ATM when Blount approached him, police said.

The two men struggled and then tumbled into the truck. Witnesses reported hearing a gunshot. Blount tried to drive the truck, but an emergency security system locked the engine and set off a siren, police said.

Blount fled and witnesses later saw him being picked up by another car. Police traced the vehicle with the help of a witness who memorized the license plate number and picked up Blount’s two alleged partners later that day.

One of the suspects, Thomas A. Chaney, 29, was a former Wells Fargo driver who had recently been fired, police said.

Almost two weeks later, Blount was arrested near the Las Vegas Strip. He was convicted on Dec. 4 of attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy, assault with a firearm and attempted kidnaping.

In a probation report prepared for his sentencing, Blount said he considered half the maximum sentence “fair.”

Chaney and Gilbert O. Green, 23, both of Ontario, currently are being tried together in Orange County.