Dallas Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Federal Prison for
Committing Several Violent Takeover-Style Armed Bank Robberies
Co-Defendant, Who Murdered a Brinks Security Guard,
Serving Two Consecutive Life Sentences
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 25, 2013 |
DALLAS—Jesus Sandoval, 51, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to 40 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in January 2013 to his role in three violent, takeover-style, armed bank robberies that he and co-conspirator Enrique Lopez, 29, committed in 2009, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
Specifically, Sandoval pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and two counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to and possessing firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Lopez was sentenced in October 2012 to two consecutive life sentences, plus 85 years in federal prison, following his guilty plea in June 2012 to murdering a Brinks Security Guard and committing five violent, takeover-style, armed bank robberies.
Factual resumes filed in the case detail the robberies. On February 13, 2009, Lopez and Sandoval, armed with firearms, robbed a Loomis security guard as he replenished cash in an automatic teller machine (ATM) located at the Bank of America on Camp Wisdom Road in Dallas. Lopez grabbed the guard from behind, put a pistol to his neck, threatened to kill him, and demanded money. The two took the guard’s service weapon and money bags, and Lopez fired at the Loomis driver.
On August 1, 2009, Lopez and Sandoval, each armed with a firearm, robbed the Wachovia Bank located at 39703 Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway in Dallas, threatening bank employees with death during the course of the robbery. After taking the cash, they fled in a vehicle fitted with stolen license plates.
On the morning of October 3, 2009, Sandoval and his accomplice, Lopez, each armed with a loaded pistol, entered the Chase Bank located at 12329 Lake June Road in Balch Springs. The bank was celebrating its grand opening and more than 40 people were in the bank. Lopez and Sandoval, with their pistols, threatened the lives of the people inside the bank and claimed they had a bomb in the backpack that would detonate if anyone notified the police. Following a high-speed chase, Lopez and Sandoval were arrested. Police recovered the loaded pistols, the bank’s money, and the backpack from the car, which, while it did not contain a bomb, contained two boxes of ammunition.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Dallas Police Department, and the Balch Springs Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon McCarthy and Jerri Sims prosecuted.