DaytonDailyNews.com

EATON, Preble County — The man accused of robbing a bank in Huber Heights and leading police on a high-speed pursuit to the Ohio-Indiana border has spent most of the last 20 years in federal prisons for robbing banks.

Randy Lee Mora, 53, remained in the Preble County Jail on Wednesday, July 9, as authorities from several jurisdictions worked out charges stemming from the robbery of a Fifth Third Bank branch and chase on Tuesday, July 8.

Federal court records reveal that Mora is as familiar with incarceration as he is with freedom. Those records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show that he has spent most of the last 20 years in prison for bank robbery.

Mora was first sentenced for a 1988 armed bank robbery in Spokane, Wash., receiving a sentence of 21 months with three years supervised release, according to the records.

In 1990, while out on supervised release, he robbed a U.S. Bank branch in Spokane at gunpoint. This time, Mora got 19 years with five years supervised release.

After doing time in several federal prisons throughout the country and a failed stay at a halfway house, he was sent to the federal penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa., to serve out his sentence. He was released May 16.

His probation case was transferred from the U.S. Eastern District Court of Washington to the District of New Jersey, where he was to be on probation until May 15, 2013.

The transfer was arranged so Mora could have the support of his family. His sister, Cheryl Mora, contacted Wednesday at her home in New Jersey, said she opened her home to him, hoping he would get back on his feet.

Last week, she said, "something snapped." He became stressed and argumentative, then stole her boyfriend's truck, leaving her a note telling her he had done it.

She said her brother suffers from several emotional and mental disorders he takes medication for, and he seemed unable to transition from prison to freedom.

"He's told me several times he would never go back to prison," Cheryl Mora said. "That's why he said, 'Just shoot me.' That's what he wanted. That's why he hit those officers and tried to hit another. He probably thought, chase me, shoot me and then I'll be dead — out of this life and out of this pain."

Ms. Mora, a single mother, said she is giving up on trying to help him.

"I don't want to talk to him," she said. "My main concern is for the officers who were hurt."

The two Richmond, Ind., officers suffered minor injuries when Mora crashed the pickup truck he was driving into a police cruiser near the state line.

Mora might have escaped except for a quick thinking Huber Heights businessman, Jason Shope, who followed Mora as Mora drove away from the bank.

Shope owns Classic Pizza at Taylorsville and Brandt Pike. He entered the bank on Brandt shortly after the robbery, saw Mora leaving and distressed customers.

Shope hopped in his car and quietly followed Mora out of the parking lot, tailing him on westbound Interstate 70 and keeping police advised by cell phone until Mora stopped to get gas in Englewood. There, police from Englewood and Huber Heights caught up with him.

"I just took it easy," Shope said Wednesday. "I didn't want to lose him, but I wasn't going to do anything stupid. I don't think he even knew I was following him."

Shope is very low-key about his role in the capture. Huber Heights police Officer Mark Bruns praised Shope for his actions and said it's unlikely Mora would have been caught had Shope not kept him in sight until help arrived.

"It just seemed like the right thing to do and I was happy to help," Shope said. "Otherwise, it was a normal day for me. I came back and made some pizza — I still have a business to run."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2235 or vwarren@DaytonDailyNews.com.