Getaway driver gets almost 9 years in truck stop stickup

For Dudley Nelson, a 2011 hit on a truck stop casino netted him and two friends $11,675 in stolen cash, as well as a 105 month stay in prison following a federal sentencing hearing held Friday for the 25-year-old Ville Platte man.

According to a press release issued by U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley's office, Nelson was arrested April 8, 2011 after authorities spotted him driving a white sports utility van similar to one reported by witnesses as the getaway vehicle used to flee the scene of a robbery earlier that evening at the Tiger Trax truck stop in St. Landry Parish.

During the attempted traffic stop, Nelson and his two accomplices attempted to flee the van and make a run for it on foot. It didn't go well for Nelson, who was caught before he could make his getaway. For Nelson's two friends - Arinskie Tryvon Orlandeze Jones and Ronald James Doomes - their narrow escape would prove short-lived and both would eventually turn themselves in over the next week.

Even though he was only the getaway driver, Nelson, during his guilty plea last year, told the court that even before they arrived at the truck stop that night, he knew Jones and Doomes would be using a gun during the robbery.

At Friday's hearing, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Foote sentenced Nelson to a total of 105 months in prison - 21 months for one count of interfering with commerce by robbery and another 82 months for one count of use and carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Nelson was also ordered to pay restitution for the full amount stolen.

Compared to his accomplices, Nelson's sentence won't be too bad: Doomes will go into his Nov. 15 sentencing hearing facing between seven years and life, while Jones, who is still awaiting a sentencing date, could find himself behind bars for up to 20 years.