Bank Robber who Posed as Federal Agent Sentenced to 11 Years and 8 Months in Federal Prison

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Convicted bank robber Christopher Reynolds was sentenced last week to 11 years and eight months imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.

In October 2008, Reynolds pleaded guilty to two armed bank robberies. According to the plea agreement, Reynolds gained access to both banks managers during the robberies by showing a fake badge, wearing a dark suit, and telling bank employees that he was with the Department of Justice. The defendant then threatened the bank employees with a simulated gun and threatened to blow up the bank if they did not cooperate.

In pleading guilty, Reynolds admitted that he robbed the Wells Fargo Bank at 1900 Union Street in San Francisco on November 6, 2007. Upon sitting down with the manager, Reynolds placed a leather briefcase on the manager's desk and told the manager, "I set an explosive device in the bank. If you attempt to call the police, I have a partner outside with a detonator." According to the plea agreement, the defendant also told the manager that he had a gun and opened up his jacket to display a toy gun that the defendant had painted black to resemble a real gun. The total amount that Reynolds robbed from the Wells Fargo Bank was $9,230.

Reynolds was arrested in a taxi-cab by San Francisco Police Department officers during his attempted escape.

Reynolds also admitted to robbing the M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., on October 10, 2007. The defendant used a near-identical approach to rob that bank of approximately $23,000.

At the time of both offenses, Reynolds was on federal supervised release from a 1998 bank robbery conviction. He was released from federal prison in July 2007, three months before committing the bank robbery in New York.

Reynolds, 52, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury in San Francisco on November 27, 2007. He was charged with one count of armed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d), which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment. He was separately indicted by a federal Grand Jury in Buffalo, N.Y. on February 20, 2008, and charged with one count of bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

Reynolds was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nat Cousins and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Al Sambat from the Northern District of California, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo from the Western District of New York prosecuted the case with the assistance of legal assistant Elizabeth Garcia. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the San Francisco Police Department.

Further Information:

Case #: CR 07-0747 SI (Northern District of California) A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges' calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court's website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.