Posted on 11/01/2014 12:10:59 PM PDT by Larry381
PHOENIX—On Sept. 10, 2014, Joel Leon Thomas, Jr., 24, of El Mirage, Ariz., was sentenced by Judge David G. Campbell to 49.5 years in federal prison for masterminding three bank robberies in Peoria, Surprise, and Sun City from January—February 2012. In March 2014, a federal jury found Thomas guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, two counts of aid and abet armed bank robbery, one count of aid and abet bank robbery, and two counts of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
The evidence at trial showed that Thomas, a bank teller at the time of the robberies, provided inside information to his co-conspirators about bank security measures and bank layouts to craft plans to rob three banks in January – February 2012. The conspiracy targeted banksThomas worked at in the Surprise, Sun City, and Peoria areas. Thomas orchestrated two bank robberies at gunpoint, and in one of those robberies, he posed as a victim bank teller as he loaded $246,000 from the vault into a duffel bag for the armed gunman, his friend. In a third bank robbery, the conspiracy recruited two homeless men to commit a “note job” where they demanded money from a victim bank teller inside a busy grocery store and turned over the money to Thomas and other conspirators. After obtaining search warrants, police seized approximately $150,000 in stolen bank money, firearms, ammunition, bank robbery demand notes, and hand-drawn diagrams of the banks from the residences and cars of Thomas and others charged in the conspiracy. Five others were charged and pleaded guilty in the conspiracy.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FBI’s Bank Robbery Task Force, the Peoria Police Department, the Surprise Police Department, and the Tempe Police Department. The prosecution was handled by Jennifer E. Green and Tracy Van Buskirk, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
He should have been a bank exec overseeing millions in drug money laundering and terrorist funding. Would have paid a small fine and kept his job.
Wow - 49 years! Wonder how many years Jamie Dimon, Jon Corzine & the Tan Man got? LOL! :)
Joel Leon and his homies were pretty dang stupid to think they could get away with more than one ‘inside’ job.
One maybe, but three? Not a chance.
You're just saying that because it's true.
Silly peasants! Jail is for YOU!!!
what a genius
.... he posed as a victim bank teller as he loaded $246,000 from the vault into a duffel bag for the armed gunman, his friend ...
That’s 5% of what was stolen from the U.S. Treasury in the Solyndra robbery yet nobody has been prosecuted.
Russian proverb: Big thieves hang little thieves.
You know if they were so eager to steal money they should have ran for congress.
Jon Corzine, holy smoke I forgot about that idiot. What did he steal again, something like $1.6 billion? And he’s out walking the street free as a bird.
Holy shet and he’s only 24 and he gets 49 years. Oh excuse me - 49.5 years. Gee, well at least he didn’t get 50. That is crazy, killers get less time than that. What he stole illegals steal in welfare and foodstamps every hour.
He looks a lot like that son Obama might have had if he had a son.
And what did John Corzine get?
It’s the Feds who are too big to jail.
I’m so sick of these guys parading around their tough on crime bravado when so many pols and corrupt bankers and corporate types can get away with anything.
Had he stolen the bank with a pen and a lawyer, he would have been invited to the White House.
Stealing worthless FRN promissory notes just gets you locked up.
So this is easy to fix. Your fingerprint only gets you a password screen. Problem fixed.
oops-wrong thread for my last comment.
Was it an AA job?
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