A career criminal who allegedly kidnapped a mom and her two young children and forced them at knifepoint to help him rob a Kentucky bank was released from prison just a year earlier after a Democrat-appointed judge granted him so-called “shock probation.”
Armond Langford, 32, allegedly broke into the family’s east Louisville home on Friday and forced the woman to drive him to a bank, where he demanded $20,000 from a teller working the drive-thru, according to local reports.
Langford, who held a knife to the woman’s throat during the terrifying ordeal, then stabbed the mom in the abdomen and ran off, leading police on an hours-long manhunt before he was arrested, WHAS11 reported.
Father Brandon Strong spoke of his disbelief and anger after learning that Langford had been sentenced to 14 years in prison just last year after he was convicted of nearly a dozen robbery charges.
He was then sprung by Judge Jessica Green — who was appointed as a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge by Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear — just five months later in July 2024.
“It’s unbelievable that this was allowed to happen,” Strong told “Fox & Friends.” “This was not a guy running red lights.”
Green cut the career criminal loose on “shock probation,” which gives offenders a second chance after they spend a short time behind bars. The idea is that the time spent in prison will shock them and deter them from committing crimes in the future.
“The whole entire judicial system that made this decision needs to go away,” Strong said. “How would that [shock probation] be an option for someone that’s a violent criminal?”
Langford was arrested on Friday afternoon, hours after the alleged robbery and knife attack, in Lyndon, east of Louisville.
He faces multiple charges including robbery, kidnapping and assault, WLKY reports.
