A Kalispell man is set to serve five years in the Montana State Prison, with 20 years suspended, for stealing a truck believed to have been used to take an automated teller machine from a Polson bank on Jan. 30.

Cory Robert Franklin, 32, was sentenced Thursday by Flathead District Judge Heidi Ulbricht.

Franklin faces a separate charge for stealing the ATM itself. That is being prosecuted in Lake County.

Ulbricht followed the recommendation of prosecutor Stacy Boman, who noted Franklin’s criminal history that includes two prior convictions for burglary and forgery. He also was previously charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

In early February, Franklin was found in possession of a stolen truck in Flathead County with two separate fictitious plates that matched the plates on a vehicle used to steal an ATM from Community Bank in Polson.

The bank is now part of the Glacier Bank system.

The ATM was cut from the building before dawn and was found the morning after the theft off the side of Montana 28 between Elmo and Hot Springs. More than $28,000 was stolen.

A search of Franklin’s residence found tools similar to those seen being used by masked robbers in video of the crime. The stolen truck also had yellow paint transfer, which matched paint transfer believed to have been caused by a crowbar used to pry open the ATM.

Franklin will have to pay restitution for the truck unless it is returned to the owner. It is currently being held by Polson authorities as the ATM theft case is prosecuted.

Franklin’s public defender blamed a drug addiction for Franklin’s behavior.

“Certainly we are hoping Cory gets treatment,” attorney Lane Bennett told Ulbricht as he asked her to consider a more lenient sentence. “This issue has mostly circulated around his addiction to drugs.”

Franklin did not testify on his own behalf during sentencing, but did ask that another sentence he is serving run concurrently with the new sentence to allow for an earlier parole date.

Ulbricht granted the request.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459.