Armed Bank Robber/Carjacker Given 17-Year Sentence in Federal Court

BIRMINGHAM—United States Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama and Patrick Maley, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announce that GABRIEL DEWAYNE RICE was sentenced yesterday on charges of armed bank robbery and car jacking.

Rice, 21, of Gadsden, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Sharon L. Blackburn to 204 months in prison and given five years supervised release after the prison term is served. Rice was also ordered to pay $277,773 in restitution.

According to Vance, on July 16, 2008, Rice and an accomplice entered the Wachovia Bank located on Bill Robison Parkway in Anniston, Alabama, armed with firearms and ordered the employees and customers to get on the ground. After robbing the bank, Rice and his accomplice carjacked an elderly woman and her caretaker and forced the women to drive them to Gadsden where they exited their vehicle near a cemetery. Rice was captured near Cartersville, Georgia, on July 27, 2008, and more than $26,000 of the bank robbery proceeds were seized from him.

Numerous law enforcement agencies contributed to the success of this investigation including the Anniston Police Department, the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit, the Northeast Alabama Safe Streets Task Force, the Gadsden Police Department, the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office, the Gadsden FBI, the Rome, Georgia FBI, the Bartow County, Georgia, Drug Task Force, and the Glencoe Police Department.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney L. James Weil, Jr.