A 28-year-old Ballinger man was sentenced to serve 19½ years in federal prison for the robbery last summer of West Texas State Bank in Rowena.

Darin Heath West was convicted last December and was sentenced in Lubbock this morning by U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings.

West was found guilty on three counts to include aggravated robbery and kidnappi ng.

A total of $210,900 was taken in the heist early on the morning of Aug. 5 when West confronted a bank teller as she was opening the bank.

Armed with a pistol, the man forced the teller into the bank, took the money and fled in the teller’s vehicle. That vehicle was abandoned a short distance from the bank and he got into a second one parked at the Rowena Gin.

West was arrested the next day in a routine check of a suspicious vehicle in Dickinson in Galveston County.

The vehicle had been rented in West’s name and contained the weapon and most of the money from the bank still in WTBS wrappers. Recovered was $203,160.