Clinton Woman Pleads Guilty to Armed Robbery of Adams National Bank

WASHINGTON—Iesha Armstrong, 33, pled guilty on March 4, 2010, to armed robbery and felon in possession of a firearm, for the armed robbery of Adams National Bank, located at 1604 17th Street, NW, on September 2, 2008, and for her possession of three firearms at her home in Clinton, Maryland, on November 14, 2008, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy L. Lanier. At sentencing, currently scheduled for May 28, 2010, before the Honorable Richard W. Roberts, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the defendant faces a possible prison sentence of seven years, and statutory maximum sentences of up to 25 years for armed bank robbery and up to 10 years for felon in possession of a firearm.

Armstrong admitted at the plea hearing that she entered the Adams National Bank on September 2, 2008, armed with a handgun, and that she was wearing sunglasses, a scarf over her mouth, and a glove on her hand. Armstrong admitted that she placed a 9-mm handgun in the back of one employee and walked the employee over to the teller station, before demanding money from a second employee at the teller station. Once at the teller station, Armstrong took $8,350 from the teller, placed it into her bag, and left the bank. An investigation into several other bank robberies, three of which were committed by Armstrong’s boyfriend, led to the execution of a search warrant at the home Armstrong shared with her boyfriend, and she was arrested on November 14, 2008, for possessing three handguns illegally. Additional investigation led to her indictment for the Adams National Bank robbery.

In announcing this guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crimes Task Force and Evidence Response Team, as well as members of the Metropolitan Police Department, including Sgt. Elmer Baylor, Detectives Vernon Jones and Anthony Johnson, and Officers Earl Thompson and Parminder Singh. He further thanked AUSAs Mara Zusman and Robert Hur from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. Finally he acknowledged the efforts of several employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Legal Assistants Latoya Davenport and Priscilla Hutson, Investigator Duncan Templeton, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Schmidt, who indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frederick Yette and April Fearnley, who handled the plea.