Serial Bank Robbers Sentenced

RICHMOND, VA—Derek Lamar Tompkins, 36, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson to 27 years of imprisonment for conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a bank robbery. On February 24, 2012, co-defendant David Darnell Lowery, 37, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced on the same charges to 24.5 years, and co-defendant Tyre Antoine Johnson, 28, of Temple Hills, Maryland, was sentenced on the same charges to 19.5 years. The sentences of all three men were ordered to run consecutively to state sentences each of them received arising out of a bank robbery in November 2010 in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Michael Morehart, special agent in charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement after Tompkin’s sentencing today.

During each of the sentencings, Judge Hudson placed heavy emphasis on the trauma inflicted on each of the victims of the robberies committed by these men and their co-conspirator, Mustafa Naeem, who was previously sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for his role in this conspiracy. In their statements of facts filed in support of their pleas, each of the men admitted to involvement in a robbery ring that committed numerous bank robberies in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina from June 2004 through November 2010, though not every defendant participated in each robbery. Tompkins and Lowery both admitted to participating in 19 of those robberies. Johnson admitted that he joined the conspiracy later and participated in three of the robberies. The robberies resulted in the theft of over $1,000,000. Each of the men was ordered to pay restitution as a part of his sentence.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the local police and sheriff’s Departments for the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia; Fairfax County, Virginia; Charles County, Maryland; Montgomery County, Maryland; Anne Arundel County, Maryland; Howard County, Maryland; Arlington County, Virginia; the city of Alexandria, Virginia; the city of Fairfax, Virginia; the city of Raleigh, North Carolina; and the cCity of Florence, South Carolina. Assistant United States Attorney Olivia L. Norman prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov.