Alamogordo Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for December 2011 Robbery of Bank in Alamogordo
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 25, 2012 |
ALBUQUERQUE—Earlier this week, a federal judge in Las Cruces sentenced Jesus Jose Romero, 47, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, to a 46-month term of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for his bank robbery conviction. Romero also was ordered to pay full restitution to the bank that was the victim of his criminal conduct.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that, on March 13, 2012, Romero pled guilty to robbing the First National Bank of Alamogordo located at 414 E. 10th Street, Alamogordo, New Mexico, on December 27, 2011. He has been in federal custody since that date.
According to court filings, on Dec. 27, 2011, Romero approached the walk-up window near the Bank’s drive-thru, shoved a yellow envelope in through the victim teller’s window slot and told the teller that it was a bomb. Romero then produced a typed note that demanded “big money,” and threatened to detonate the bomb if he was not given money or if the Bank notified the police before 20 minutes had passed. After receiving a large amount of cash from the bank teller, Romero fled the Bank in a silver car.
Officers of the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety arrested Romero later that day after matching the description of the robber with the description of a complainant who had reported being in an altercation two days earlier. Romero confessed to the bank robbery after his arrest. When officers executed a search warrant at Romero’s place of business, they found a computer bag containing most of the cash Romero obtained during the robbery as well as the clothes that he wore during the robbery.
During his plea hearing, Romero admitted using a fake bomb to threaten the bank teller into giving him a large amount of cash.
The case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Saltman of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.