Repeat offender sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to robbing a Savannah bank

SAVANNAH, GA:  A man who pled guilty to a 2022 bank robbery in Savannah has been sentenced to more than 13 years federal prison.

Shawn Kelley, 45, from Baton Rouge, La., was sentenced to 163 months in prison after pleading guilty to Robbery, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker ordered Kelley’s sentence to run consecutively with time remaining for his state probation violation, ordered Kelley to serve three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term, and there is no parole in the federal system.

“For most of his adult life, Shawn Kelley has committed robberies, served time in prison, and re-offended,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “A lengthy term of incarceration will keep the community safe from this serial criminal and hopefully deter others from making the same choices.”

As described in court documents and testimony, Kelley walked into the Wells Fargo Bank at 136 Bull St., Savannah, on Sept. 15, 2022, and demanded cash from the teller. After leaving with a substantial amount of money, Kelley walked to the bus station where Savannah Police officers found him in the bathroom changing out of the clothes he’d worn during the robbery, still in possession of the cash.

Kelley, who was on probation after being paroled from a 2015 conviction for a Gwinnett County, Ga., credit union robbery, has a total of six prior convictions for robberies dating back to a mugging conviction in 2000 in Baton Rouge, La., with subsequent bank and credit union robberies during the following two decades in Louisiana and Georgia.

“This sentence makes it very clear that criminals who repeatedly break the law will be held accountable with lengthy prison terms, without the opportunity for parole,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Our partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies make these sentencings possible, ultimately making our communities safer.”

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Savannah Police Department, and prosecuted for the United States by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Makeia R. Jonese, and by Assistant U.S. Attorney and Criminal Division Deputy Chief E. Gregory Gilluly Jr.