Corpus Christi Man Sentenced for Robbing Texas Champion Bank

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX—Vernon Nicholas Tolmie, 52, of Corpus Christi, has been ordered to prison for robbing Texas Champion Bank through use of force and intimidation, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. Tolmie pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery on Tuesday, February 5, 2013.

Today, Senior U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey, who accepted the guilty plea, handed Tolmie a sentence of 156 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was further ordered to pay restitution to Texas Champion Bank. Judge Rainey also imposed another 16 months in prison for a violation of supervised release on a case from another district.

As part of his plea, Tolmie admitted he robbed the Texas Champion Bank located on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi on July 11, 2012, and again on November 19, 2012. In both robberies, Tolmie presented threatening notes to bank tellers demanding money.

Tolmie was arrested on November 19, 2012, after Corpus Christi Police officers responded to the bank to investigate the robbery. Officers searched the area and found discarded clothes in an abandoned building matching the clothes worn during the robbery.

The investigation revealed that a man had recently fled the building and entered a nearby restaurant. Officers located Tolmie in that restaurant and he was subsequently detained. Tolmie had the cash from the robbery concealed in his boots and admitted it came from the bank robbery. Tolmie was later identified by an eyewitness and fingerprint evidence as having also committed the July 11, 2012 robbery. Tolmie later admitted he committed both bank robberies.

Tolmie has been in custody without a bond since his arrest. He will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sam Brown, IV.