Mexican National Sentenced to 114 Months in Prison for Federal Armed Bank Robbery Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE—This morning in federal court in Albuquerque, Edwin Vismar Urena-Hernandez, 24, was sentenced to 114-months’ imprisonment for his conviction of armed bank robbery and using a gun in relation to a crime of violence. Urena-Hernandez, a Mexican national from Sinaloa, Mexico, has been in federal custody since his arrest on March 10, 2011. He will be deported after he completes his prison sentence.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Urena-Hernandez pleaded guilty to robbing the Bank of the West branch (Bank) located at 1422 Carlisle Boulevard NE in Albuquerque on March 10, 2011. Urena-Hernandez was charged in a criminal complaint filed on March 11, 2011 and subsequently was indicted on March 22, 2011. Urena-Hernandez pled guilty to an information charging him with armed bank robbery and using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence on June 13, 2011.

According to the criminal complaint, witnesses to the March 10, 2011 bank robbery described the bank robber as a Spanish-speaking male wearing a dark mask, a dark hooded zip-up jacket, and dark pants who brandished a two-tone, long-barreled, semi-automatic handgun at the bank tellers when he demanded cash. The witnesses reported that the bank robber fled on foot after obtaining cash from the tellers. Shortly thereafter, officers of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) observed a man, who was later identified as Urena-Hernandez, fitting the robber’s description in a Ford Escape at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Menaul Boulevards NE. When the officers removed Urena-Hernandez from the vehicle, they discovered a loaded handgun in his pants and also found other evidence of the bank robbery.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Albuquerque Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shammara H. Henderson.