Portland Man Sentenced to 14 Years for Robbing Five Financial Institutions

Contact: James W. Chapman, Jr.
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel. (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II, announced that Jimmy Odong, 26, of Portland was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to 14 years in prison for robbing three credit unions and two banks in 2015.  He was also order to pay $26,790 in restitution.  The charges arose from the robberies of University Credit Union in Portland on May 14, 2015; TruChoice Federal Credit Union in Portland on May 26, 2015; CPort Credit Union and Bank of America, both in Portland, on June 19, 2015; and Key Bank in Freeport, Maine, on July 17, 2015.

In the robberies, Odong was captured on bank security cameras wearing a hat or wig that partially disguised his appearance, he demanded cash from tellers, and he brandished what appeared to be a gray or black semiautomatic handgun. Odong has been in custody since July 23, 2015, when the FBI and Portland Police arrested him in Portland for the Key Bank robbery after a partial palm print of Odong was recovered from a stolen vehicle he used in the robbery. 

Before imposing sentence, Chief Judge Torresen stated that bank robberies such as the ones committed by Odong are extremely serious offenses, especially when a weapon is brandished.  She stated that the tellers and the customers often suffer emotional trauma that continues well beyond the date of the crime.  Judge Torresen also told Odong that his crimes affected the entire banking industry in this area because no bank felt safe. 

The investigation was conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”); the Freeport, Portland and Brunswick Police Departments; the Maine State Police; and the Southern Maine Gang Task Force comprised of agents and officers from the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; and the Portland, South Portland, Lewiston and Biddeford Police Departments.  U.S. Attorney Delahanty praised the cooperation among these law enforcement agencies noting that “these bank robberies were quickly solved because local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies worked closely together.”