Repeat Bank Robber Sentenced To Over 12 Years In Prison

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that Anthony Oby Loose, age 33, of Grand Rapids, Michigan was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison for bank robbery. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney also ordered Loose to pay $20,458.73 in restitution.

          A federal grand jury indicted Loose for robbing the Fifth Third Bank in Big Rapids, MI, on July 20, 2016, the Four Flags Credit Union in Niles on July 13, 2016, and a Comerica Bank in Lansing on June 3, 2016. Loose was on parole for yet another bank robbery at the time all of these offenses were committed. Loose committed his robberies by telling the bank tellers he had a gun. Often he commanded more than one teller to give him money. And several times he demanded more money after the tellers had emptied their cash drawers. Two days after the robbery in Big Rapids, Loose was arrested at the Budgetel Inn in Grand Rapids after a brief standoff with law enforcement. FBI agents later received a letter Loose had written to his girlfriend indicating he had hidden money after the robbery. Following up on his letter and a diagram he had drawn, the FBI agents discovered $4,700 hidden behind the drywall in the bathroom of his hotel room.

          Loose pled guilty in October to the Big Rapids robbery. The remaining charges for the other robberies were dismissed as part of a plea agreement, but Judge Maloney was allowed to consider evidence that he committed them in selecting a sentence for the Big Rapids robbery.

          "The magnitude of the sentence imposed on Anthony Loose validates the collective and effective investigative efforts of the FBI and our local law enforcement partners to identify and arrest this serial bank robber," said David P. Gelios, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Detroit Division. "These investigative partnerships, enthusiastically supported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, are essential to our efforts to keep Western Michigan communities safe".

          This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with the Big Rapids Police Department, the Lansing Police Department, and the Niles Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis M. Sanford.

END