Photo courtesy MHPS
The screengrab from security camera footage shows the man responsible for the Royal Bank robbery on Oct. 19. Vogelsang was sentenced to a total of 6.5 years in prison for bank robberies across the prairies in 2017, including two in Medicine Hat in October of that year.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
A former broadcaster and journalism instructor who pled guilty to six bank robberies across the Prairies was suffering from a deep depression that clouded his judgment at the time of the offences, court heard during sentencing submission Monday.
Stephen Vogelsang, 55, appeared in Medicine Hat Provincial Court via closed-circuit TV from Drumheller Institution, where he’s serving a five-year sentence for four robberies in Regina and Saskatoon.
Due to technical difficulties, only an audio feed was available from the prison, with the accused apologizing to the bank employees, his family and hundreds of former students in a distinctive, booming broadcaster voice.
“This was the bottom of a seven-year downward spiral,” defence counsel Greg White said, requesting a sentence of six years to be served concurrent to his Saskatchewan sentence. “We’re talking about someone who came to the end of his rope … and made decisions that were simply illogical.”
According to White, Vogelsang left his teaching job at Red River College in Winnipeg when his wife found employment in Nelson, B.C. Despite applying to more than 50 jobs, he was unable to find employment.
He returned to Winnipeg for work, but was fired from that job shortly after. Around that time, he and his wife got a divorce. Sinking into a depression, for which his prescribed medication wasn’t working, and saddled with debt from his lengthy unemployment, he decided to go on a bank-robbing spree, White explained.
According to the agreed statement of facts the Crown presented, the two robberies in Medicine Hat occurred on Oct. 19 and 20, 2017.
The first robbery occurred at 6:49 p.m. at a Royal Bank of Canada, where he was reported driving an old, dark-coloured truck and wearing loose-fitting clothing and sunglasses to mask his identity.
He presented a note to the teller, which read “Give me $2,000 cash now!”
Vogelsang ended up walking away from the RBC with $2,400 cash.
The next day around 11:45 a.m., Vogelsang appeared at a local Bank of Montreal, where he presented a note that said “This is a robbery. Give me $2,400,” leaving with $1,725 in cash.
The teller described him to police as “extremely shaky.”
In neither instance was Vogelsang armed.
Later in the afternoon of Oct. 20, RCMP in Saskatchewan contacted the Medicine Hat Police Service, informing them that they were after the same suspect.
The MHPS tracked Vogelsang to the Medicine Hat Lodge, where a vehicle in the parking lot matched the description the victims provided of Vogelsang’s.
The Crown, which is requesting a three-year sentence to be served consecutive to the five years Vogelsang is already serving, citing his lack of a criminal record at the time of the offences and the 11 character references provided to the court – some from former students – as mitigating factors.
They conceded that the robberies were “out of character” for the accused.
However, his attempts to conceal his identity to avoid detection and the significant sum he stole are considered aggravating factors.
White said his sentencing submission is in part based on “local circumstances,” citing a wide disparity in sentencing for bank robberies from province to province.
“Medicine Hat is not a hot bed for bank robberies,” he said.
Judge Derek Redman reserved his sentencing decision for Oct. 8.
Note: This story has been updated to correct Stephen Vogelsang’s age.
