Green Forest builder's secret addiction led him to rob banks

— William Joe Norton Jr. ran his own construction business, served on Green Forest's Planning Commission and coached his children's baseball teams.

He also secretly inhaled methamphetamine deep into his lungs, letting the illicit, synthesized concoction give him the energy his busy life demanded. At least, that's how it started.

Norton's desire for a lift grew into an expensive addiction that led him into a secret life of an interstate bank robber.

Now, Norton, 39, lives in Memphis. His federal prison cell is a far cry from the Green Forest home he shared with his wife and their three children.

Norton used to build things: homes, businesses, a life. His choice to use methamphetamine tore it all down.

"It can eat you up," he said.

Norton smoked marijuana in the years before he graduated from Green Forest High School in 1978. He began using cocaine in the early 1980s after he moved with his wife to San Diego. He worked there for a building contractor.

The Nortons moved back to Arkansas in 1991 to get away from the drugs. He was drug free for more than four years, he said.

In that time, Norton started his own construction company. Business was good enough that the family set its sights on a 3,800-square-foot home Norton would build himself.

He worked on the home in the evenings, so as not to neglect the paying jobs. A co-worker offered him "speed" to ease his weariness.

"I started doing a little, just to keep up," Norton said. Before long, he was working all night on the house, pausing at times to watch the "people" the methamphetamine created in his yard.

Norton began buying larger quantities. Like other merchandise, it's cheaper in bulk. But he also began to use more. His habit averaged $1,000 a week and soared at one point to $2,000 a week. Sellers and potential sellers often brought it to him at night, while he was building his home.

"It gets to the point where it takes more and more to keep you going," he said. As his use increased, so did his struggle to hide it from the community and his family.

By the spring of 1997, Norton knew he needed to protect his family and business. He told his father, an accountant in Green Forest, about his drug used and the elder Norton began paying the company and family bills from his son's accounts. He gave his son $40 a week, which kept gasoline in his vehicle.

But "friends" fronted him the drugs on credit. His debt grew fast. He soon owed one supplier, a city businessman and user, $10,000. Wanting more meth -- and desperate to keep his debts and drug use a secret -- Norton turned to out-of-town bank robberies.

"I had all these good things in my life, and I loved that part of my life. But I had this drug problem I had to conceal."

Stealing was the only way he could think of to get more money.

"I didn't even think of the consequences. It was like someone else was doing it. Not sleeping makes your mind do weird things," Norton said, referring to the drug's tendency to keep its users awake for long periods.

Robbing a convenience or liquor store seemed too personal, he said. He couldn't stand the thought of taking money directly from a person's pocket. A bank, however, with its government-insured money, wasn't so personal.

Norton left at each of the six banks he robbed small devices he claimed were bombs. Notes instructed the tellers what to do. The quiet, calm robber, disguised only in a ball cap, dark glasses and layers of clothing, never spoke threats and was never armed.

He'd drive until he found a safe spot to stop. "I would pull over and cry for probably 30 minutes. And my conscience would kick in, and I'd think about my kids."

After the first robbery, he went back to work, acting as if nothing happened. After three of the robberies, he flew to Las Vegas or drove to St. Louis. He bought gambling chips with the bank money, then cashed them in an attempt to launder the stolen bills.

By the time he got one debt paid, he owed another. The next bank robbery was always the option.

"I was a physical and emotional wreck. I was on the Planning Commission, had a nice house but my life was the pits." he said.

About four hours after he robbed the Mercantile Bank in Flippin on Oct. 1, 1997, an Arkansas State trooper stopped Norton at 6:30 p.m. on U.S. 65 near Omaha, about 60 miles northwest of Flippin. The trooper found $10,000 and a quarter-ounce of methamphetamine in a blue bag tied beneath the truck's cab.

FBI agents went to his house. A gathering of relatives was sharing a spaghetti dinner when the agents announced Norton had been arrested on bank robbery charges.

"They didn't believe it," Norton said. "They said they had the wrong guy."

After Norton confessed to all six robberies, it was obvious they had the right guy. His community was shocked.

Roy Larimer was Green Forest's mayor when Norton was arrested. He'd worked with Norton on the Planning Commission and other projects around town.

"I had no idea," Larimer said. "I don't think anybody did. It was a shock to everybody. The first indication was when he was arrested."

Larimer describes Norton as a nice, well-mannered man, always ready to help his neighbor.

"He made some mistakes, but he's not a bad person," Larimer said.

Norton pleaded guilty in December 1997 to robbing Mercantile Bank in Branson, Mo., on June 30 of that year; NationsBank in Harrison on Aug. 18; Roosevelt Bank in Springfield, Mo., on Sept. 8; Roosevelt Bank in St. Charles, Mo., on Sept. 13; First Federal Bank in Fayetteville on Sept. 18; and finally the bank in Flippin.

He is serving the 16th month of a 6-1/2 year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis. He must repay almost $64,000 he stole from the banks and serve three years on supervised release after he finishes his prison term.

"A day in here is like a month," he said. The dragging time has allowed him to realize everything he's lost by choosing to use meth.

"I fully understand what I've lost and what I've got to lose. I see I can survive without it [meth]."

Norton said he prays a lot, hoping a closeness to God will help with his family and with his resistance in the future to drugs.

"I don't think I could ever go back to that again. I crossed the line. I see no other option but to be clean," Norton said. "A little bit of cell time will do your head wonders."

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