Las Vegas Man Sentenced to 37 Months for Robbing Wells Fargo Bank in Santa Fe in February 2011

ALBUQUERQUE—United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales announced that, today in federal court in Albuquerque, Eric Schlenker, 43, was sentenced to a 37-month term of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for robbing a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on February 12, 2011.

Court filings reflect that, on the morning of February 12, 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Santa Fe Police Department (SFPD) responded to a report that the Wells Fargo Bank branch located inside the Albertsons Grocery Store at 3001 St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe (Bank) had been robbed. Bank employees reported that a male subject handed a bank teller a note demanding cash and stating that he was armed. They further reported that the subject verbally demanded cash from two bank tellers and told them he had a gun. After the two bank tellers gave the subject the money in their drawers, the suspect departed the Bank on foot.

On February 17, 2011, a witness notified the FBI and SFPD that, while shopping at the Albertsons with Schlenker a few weeks before, Schlenker told the witness that it would be easy to rob the Bank located in that store. The witness also reported that, in the week following the robbery at the Bank, Schlenker claimed to have money despite the fact that he was unemployed. Thereafter, the witness identified Schlenker from a still photograph of the bank robber taken by a surveillance video camera when the Bank was robbed on February 12, 2011.

Thereafter, the witness assisted the FBI and SFPD by setting up a meeting with Schlenker. When an FBI agent and an SFPD officer arrived at the pre-arranged meeting location, they approached a man matching Schlenker’s description and identified themselves as law enforcement officers. Schlenker responded by fleeing but was apprehended by the FBI agent and SFPD officer after a brief foot chase. Following Schlenker’s arrest, the two victim bank tellers identified Schlenker as the man who robbed the Bank on February 12, 2011. Schlenker was detained after his arrest on February 17, 2011, and subsequently was indicted on a bank robbery charge on March 9, 2011.

Schlenker entered a guilty plea to the indictment on May 12, 2011. In entering his guilty plea, Schlenker admitted robbing the Bank on February 12, 2011 as well as threatening a bank teller. Schlenker further admitted passing a note to the bank teller that read, “I have a gun open your drawer put all the $ on Counter.” Schlenker stated that, after the bank teller complied with his demands by giving him U.S. currency, he left the Bank with the currency.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David M. Walsh, and was investigated by the FBI and SFPD.