Wilmington Bank Robber Sentenced
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 11, 2012 |
WILMINGTON—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox sentenced Jonathan Lee Thompson, 52, to 125 months’ imprisonment followed by three years’ supervised release. The court also imposed restitution of over $8,000.
A federal grand jury returned a criminal indictment on December 21, 2010. On July 13, 2010, following a three-day trial, Thompson was convicted of three counts of bank robbery.
According to evidence presented at trial, on September 23, 2009, Thompson entered the BB&T Bank branch located on Market Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, approached a teller, and placed a square black canvas bag on the counter. Taped to the bag was a white piece of paper, stating, “You’re being robbed. No dye packs.” The teller took money from the teller drawer and gave it to Thompson. Thompson asked for the money from a second drawer, but the drawer was empty. He then fled the bank with $2,337.
On November 3, 2009, Thompson entered the Bank of America branch located on Oleander Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina, approached the teller, and handed her a large white envelope. The envelope read, “This is an armed robbery. 100s, 50s, 20s, and 10s. Loose only.” The teller filled the envelope with money and handed it back to Thompson. He then fled the bank with $4,070.
On November 10, 2009, Thompson entered the Bank of America branch located on South College Road in Wilmington, approached a teller, and placed a black canvas bag on the counter. Attached to the bag was a piece of masking tape with the following words: “This is a robbery. Give me 100s, 20s and 10s.” After the teller gave Thompson $1,710, he fled the bank.
Additional evidence presented showed that through media coverage of police photos released to the public of these three robberies along with four additional robberies in South Carolina, Thompson was identified and on December 1, 2009, arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In 2003, Thompson was federally prosecuted for nine bank robberies and received a sentence of 84 months’ imprisonment. Once Thompson completed his term of imprisonment for those robberies, he was placed on supervised release for a period of three years and was still on supervised release when he committed the latest string of robberies. Assistant United States Attorney Felice McConnell Corpening served as prosecuting attorney for the previous case as well as for the current case.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Wilmington Police Department.