Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Robbery of Riegelwood Federal Credit Union

GREENVILLE –United States Attorney John Stuart Bruce announced that today in federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Kimberly A. Swank, BORENZO CORTEZ PATRICK pled guilty to Armed Bank Robbery and to Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence.

During the defendant’s guilty plea hearing, the Government summarized the evidence supporting the defendant’s guilty plea. The evidence established that on December 22, 2016, at approximately 8:16 a.m., PATRICK robbed the Riegelwood Federal Credit Union (RFCU), located at 2065 Andrew Jackson Highway, Leland, NC, at gunpoint. During the robbery, PATRICK conducted a violent armed takeover of the credit union, and was carrying an AK-47 style assault rifle. Though it was later determined that the rifle was unloaded during the robbery, PATRICK pointed the rifle at several bank employees and customers, forcing the employees to lay face down on the ground and racking the rifle bolt several times.

At sentencing, on the charge of Armed Bank Robbery, the defendant faces not more than 25 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. On the charge of Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence, the defendant faces a minimum term of 7 years in prison and up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Leland Police Department, Brunswick County Sherriff’s Office, and Columbus County Sherriff’s Office conducted the investigation of this case. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel P. Bubar is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.