Armed Bank Robber Is Sentenced To More Than 23 Years

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray announced that Anthony Lamont Caldwell, 49, of Charlotte, was sentenced yesterday afternoon to 284 months in prison on armed bank robbery and firearms charges. 

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina, and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement. 

On May 30 2018, a federal jury convicted Caldwell of bank robbery conspiracy, bank robbery, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Under federal sentencing law, Caldwell was subject to an enhanced sentence as an Armed Career Criminal, based on prior convictions.  Caldwell’s criminal history includes two previous federal convictions for bank robbery in 1997 and attempted bank robbery in 2004.  Caldwell was also convicted in Union County of Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury with Intent to Kill in 1991.  

According to filed court documents, trial evidence and the sentencing hearing, Caldwell planned the bank robbery, recruited two teenagers to rob the bank, and served as the getaway driver.  Trial evidence established that on December 9, 2016, Caldwell’s co-conspirators entered a Wells Fargo Bank branch located at 10210 Couloak Drive in Charlotte, armed with two firearms supplied by Caldwell.  As they approached the teller area, the bank robbers pointed the firearms at the tellers behind the counter and demanded money.  The tellers complied, and the bank robbers fled in a car driven by Caldwell with $5,791.60 in cash.  Shortly after the robbery, law enforcement located Caldwell hiding in a wooded area near a bag which contained $5,614 and a GPS tracker from the bank.  They also located in close proximity the vehicle Caldwell was driving.

According to evidence presented at trial, Caldwell told law enforcement that he had been carjacked while picking up a pizza, and claimed that he had been forced at gunpoint by two males out of his vehicle and into the back seat of the car.  Witness testimony and trial evidence established that, contrary to his claims, Caldwell had not been carjacked.  Also, over the course of the investigation, law enforcement located in Caldwell’s vehicle the two revolvers used to perpetrate the robbery. 

Caldwell will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

 The FBI and CMPD investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Bozin and William Stetzer handled the prosecution.