Heroin Addiction Fuels Criminal Actions
The Madison Host has reported a man who stole a car, robbed a bank and led police on a high-speed chase last year has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. According to the criminal, Theodore A. Rush, his actions were fueled by his addiction to heroin.
Rush told Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese that he was not in his right state of mind. He also noted that he is not looking for sympathy and knew that he deserved to go to prison.
While Genovese acknowledged it was easy to feel compassion for Rush due to his poor upbringing in Chicago, where both of his parents had died from heroin overdoses, leaving him to care for younger siblings. The problem was that Rush never really took responsibility for his actions as an adult as he continued to blame his drug abuse on past associations with bad people and his childhood.
In January, Rush pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery, two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment and one count of eluding police. He stole a car at gunpoint in September and then used the car about seven hours later to rob the U.S. Bank at 3461 County BB in the town of Blooming Grove.
Police spotted the car a short time later, leading to a car chase at speeds more than 80 miles per hour. Rush fled into a wooded area after the car was disabled by spike strips on U.S. 51 near Stoughton. Police finally found him with the aid of a tracking dog.
Despite his record and his actions, Genovese made Rush eligible for a Risk Reduction Sentence based on his heroin addiction. If Rush is accepted into that program by the state Department of Corrections and successfully completes it, his stay in prison could be shortened by almost four years.
