Rockford Man Sentenced for Robbing Four Rockford Area Financial Institutions
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 12, 2011 |
ROCKFORD, IL—A Rockford man was sentenced yesterday to 67 months in federal prison for the robbery of two Rockford banks and two Rockford credit unions between May and July of 2010. The defendant, Dannell L. Sampson, 25, of Rockford, has been in federal custody since he was arrested on Aug. 4, 2010.
On Aug. 17, 2011, Sampson pleaded guilty to the May 3, 2010 robbery of the First Northern Credit Union, 2235 12th Street, in Rockford. According to the written plea agreement, on May 2, 2010, Sampson and another individual decided to rob First Northern Credit Union and, in preparation for the robbery, stole an Oldsmobile Cutlass and parked the car in another area overnight. The following day, May 3, Sampson and two others drove the Cutlass to the First Northern Credit Union. Sampson remained in the parking lot in the Cutlass while one of the individuals waited in a Cadillac Escalade a few blocks from the credit union. The third individual entered First Northern Credit Union wearing a baseball hat and white bandana covering his face, walked up to a teller, and handed her a gauze-style laundry bag and told her to “start putting all you got in.” After the teller emptied the money from her drawer into the bag and checked the next teller’s drawer, which was empty, the robber left the credit union and got in the Cutlass where Sampson was waiting. Sampson then drove to the location where the other individual was waiting in the Escalade and the two men entered the Escalade, abandoning the Cutlass.
Sampson also admitted in the plea agreement that he robbed Associated Bank, 3333 North Rockton Avenue, on June 22, 2010; PNC Bank, 6709 East Riverside Boulevard, on July 15, 2010; and Members Alliance Credit Union on July 28, 2010, all located in Rockford.
Sampson was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala to pay restitution of $4,584 to First Northern Credit Union, $6,180 to Associated Bank, $4,104 to PNC Bank, and $16,307 to Members Alliance Credit Union.
The sentencing was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Rockford Police Department assisted in the investigation.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Pedersen.