El Paso Man Pleads Guilty to Las Cruces Bank Robbery

LAS CRUCES—U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales announced that yesterday, Claudio Alberto Morales-Medrano, 39, of El Paso, Tex., pled guilty to an indictment charging him with bank robbery.

Morales-Medrano has been in federal custody since his arrest on August 27, 2011, and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been set. At sentencing, Morales-Medrano faces a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

According to court documents, on August 27, 2010, at 10:30 a.m., Morales-Medrano walked into the Citizens Bank at 2841 N. Main Street in Las Cruces, N.M., and approached one of the bank tellers. Morales-Medrano pulled out what appeared to be a black gun, pointed the gun at the teller and said: “Give me the money.” The teller gave Morales-Medrano a large sum of money from her bank drawer, and Morales-Medrano put the money in a plastic bag and left the bank. A Las Cruces police officer stopped Morales-Medrano a short time later on East University in Las Cruces. Inside the car, officers found a black toy gun and a plastic bag containing cash.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Las Cruces Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maria Y. Armijo and Nathan J. Lichvarcik.