Alamogordo Man Sentenced to More Than Eight Years in Federal Prison for Robbing Bank in Hatch in October 2012

ALBUQUERQUE—Kenneth Morral, 32, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, was sentenced this morning to 100 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for robbing the First New Mexico Bank in Hatch, New Mexico on October 19, 2012.

Court filings reflect that the First New Mexico Bank was robbed on October 19, 2012, by two men who approached two bank tellers and verbally demanded money. After obtaining money from the bank tellers, the men drove away in a grey-colored vehicle. On October 21, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported to the FBI the discovery of an abandoned car that matched the description of the getaway car. The FBI found evidence in the vicinity of the vehicle linking it to the bank robbery, and a check of the vehicle’s VIN led investigators to Ricky J. Garcia, 49, of Los Lunas, New Mexico. Garcia was arrested on October 22, 2012, after sources identified him as one of the men who perpetrated the bank robbery. Garcia pleaded guilty to bank robbery on January 15, 2013.

Morral was identified as the other bank robber by a source on October 25, 2012, and was arrested in Gallup, New Mexico by the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office on November 14, 2012. Morral pleaded guilty to a bank robbery charge on May 15, 2013.

Jacleen Lorraine Henderson, 30, of Los Lunas, assisted Garcia and Morral in the aftermath of the bank robbery when Garcia’s vehicle broke down by arranging for them to be picked up and by using proceeds of the bank robbery to purchase a vehicle and other items. Henderson was arrested on November 1, 2012, and charged with being an accessory after the fact. She pleaded guilty to that charge on January 29, 2013, and was sentenced on July 23, 2013 to 15 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Luis A. Martinez and E. Garreth Winstead of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office, and investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the Hatch Police Department with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office.