Milwaukee Man Sentenced for Terrorizing Towers

A man who terrorized towers from Milwaukee during a three-week crime spree last fall received 22 years in prison. 

Latherio Meadows, 25, robbed seven drivers, who all identified him, at gun point.  Meadows pleaded guilty in June to all the robberies and two counts of using a gun during a violent crime.  

Meadow's "crime spree sparked a wave of fear in the small community of self-employed tow truck drivers in the Milwaukee community," Assistant U.S. Attorney Abbey Marzick wrote in a sentencing memo. 

According to court records: Meadows called his victims, saying he either needed his car towed or wanted to scrap a car for cash. When the trucks arrived -- at various locations around Milwaukee's north side -- Meadows pointed a gun at the drivers and demanded their money, weapons and cell phones. 

He obtained cash in amounts ranging from $500 to $3,000 from drivers, and handguns from two of his victims. Meadows pistol whipped one driver, causing head wounds that had to be stapled. 

His attorney, Richard Hart, argued Meadows did the robberies during a period of intense drug cravings. He admitted the offenses were serious, but suggested a sentence of 16-17 years would achieve all the goals of sentencing.  

The two gun convictions each carry a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, so the bare minimum sentence would be 14 years.  https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/