CROWN POINT | After telling a 20-year-old Sauk Village man that robbing a bank takes a "particular kind of guts," Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez issued a 5.5-year prison sentence for Kittrell Freeman, who last month pleaded guilty to the robbery charge.

Freeman was 16 on Dec. 6, 2003, when he walked into Dyer's Fifth Third Bank on Joliet Avenue with his 17-year-old friend Jujuan Hardiman.

Hardiman, who is serving an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to robbery in 2005, pulled out a sawed-off shotgun, and Freeman took the security guard's gun before telling Hardiman to shoot the guard.

But instead of shooting anyone or taking any money, the pair ran off and led Dyer and Munster police on a high-speed chase that ended in a Sauk Village field.

During the pursuit, a Dyer officer racing to join the chase crashed his squad car into a car driven by 90-year-old Robert Gottschall, of Munster.

Gottschall died when his car burst into flames.

Freeman told Vasquez on Tuesday that after spending time in prison for another armed robbery, he is a changed man.

He said he is getting his GED and talking to youths about making the right choices.

Freeman told Vasquez his Illinois parole officer arranged for Freeman to do an electrical apprenticeship. He said he did not want to miss out on this opportunity because of past mistakes.

Vasquez said the law requires him to consider Freeman's criminal history.

"You must be judged on what you did in the past," Vasquez said. "The great thing is your family is behind you. Hopefully they'll still be behind you when you get out of prison."