Midlam sentenced to 5 years for Rite-Aid robbery

After apologizing to the court for scaring his victims and saying that an addiction to Oxycontin drove him to commit his crimes, a Dayton-area man was sentenced to five years in prison for first-degree felony aggravated robbery. The sentence will be served consecutively to 10 additional years of prison time for robberies in other counties. 

Cole Midlam, 29, pleaded guilty Friday in Highland County Common Pleas Court to one count of first-degree felony aggravated robbery. As part of a plea agreement, a firearm specification, which could have resulted in an additional three years in prison, was dismissed. He faced three to 10 years in prison on the aggravated robbery, with a presumption of prison time. 

The state was represented by Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins. She recommended that Midlam be sentenced to five years in prison and that he pay restitution of $872.

Midlam told Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss that he used a fake gun when he robbed the Rite-Aid on North High Street in Hillsboro in May 2010 so that he made sure no one was hurt. 

Attorney William Armintrout said that Midlam had told him that after spending time in prison, he now has an understanding of what his victims might have gone through. 

"From what he has seen in the penitentiary, he said he now understands how he made these people feel," Armintrout said. 

Midlam said, "Those people didn't know what was going through my head. They didn't know if it was real. I absolutely want to apologize. I'm sorry for any damage that I've done to anybody." 

During sentencing, Armintrout argued to the court that Midlam's sentence should be concurrent to his other sentences, and if not then it should be less than the five years that was recommended by the state. The Hillsboro robbery, Armintrout said, was part of a continuing course of criminal conduct, with the Hillsboro robbery and robberies in Montgomery County and Greene County taking place only days apart. 

Armintrout said Midlam was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the armed robberies in Montgomery and Greene counties, and to 20 years in a case in Indiana, with 10 years suspended. 

"He's 29 now, and he will be at least 40 when he gets out," Armintrout said.

Midlam said, "I want to do whatever I can to make sure that when I come out (of prison) that I'm a better person."  

Armintrout described Midlam as having an addiction that was so strong, it should be spelled in all capital letters. Now that he is not on drugs, he described Midlam as being "pleasant" and forthright with information. 

Coss said that he philosophically was against consecutive prison sentences in cases such as this, because that meant Midlam was able to commit "five aggravated robberies for the price of one." 

"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, or maybe it's the way I was raised, but I believe there must be consequences," Coss said. "The legislature has made it more difficult for me to follow that belief. But the fact is, there were multiple victims and multiple offenses." 

While Coss said that he appreciates that Midlam was remorseful and cooperative, but that consecutive sentence was necessary or else it would not reflect the seriousness of the crime.

"I understand that you were addicted, but 90-95 percent of the people who come before me have drugs problems, and they're not out robbing people at gunpoint. They're doing stupid stuff or else they wouldn't be here ... But they don't commit aggravated robberies," Coss said. 

Coss said that no one really knows if Midlam used a fake gun as he claimed, and the victims did not know that at the time of the offenses. 

"I can assure you, from my work with victims in the past, to them it probably looked like a howitzer," Coss said. 

In any offense committed with a gun, Coss said, the likelihood that someone could get hurt or killed goes up exponentially, whether it be through the actions of the defendant, a victim fighting back, or a bystander with a concealed carry weapon who intervenes. 

"Sometimes innocent bystanders get killed," Coss said. "It's a situation beyond the pale, in my opinion, of deserving consecutive sentences." 

Coss sentenced Midlam to five years in prison, concurrent to the 10 years out of Montgomery and Greene counties, for a total of 15 years in prison on the Ohio robberies. He will receive no jail time credit.