Indianapolis Man Sentenced to 115 Months in Federal Prison for Four Robbery Offenses Committed While on Supervised Release for 2016 Robberies

INDIANAPOLIS – Marvin Smith, 37, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 115 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted interference with commerce by robbery and two counts of bank robbery.

According to court documents, on April 2, 2022, Smith entered a CVS on East Washington Street in Indianapolis. Smith approached a CVS pharmacy employee and handed her a note demanding 30mg of Oxycodone. The CVS employee entered a code into the lock safe and told Smith it’d take a predetermined amount of time before the safe would open. Smith left without obtaining the Oxycodone.

On that same day, Smith entered a Walgreens on East Eppler Avenue in Indianapolis. Smith approached a Walgreens pharmacy employee and handed her a note demanding 30mg of Oxycodone and demanded she hurry up. The Walgreens employee entered a code into the safe and told Smith the safe would not open for several minutes. Smith again left the pharmacy without obtaining Oxycodone. Smith was observed leaving the parking lot of the pharmacy in black four-door sedan with body damage to the vehicle. 

On April 2, 2022, Smith entered a PNC bank on South East Street in Indianapolis. Smith reached over the top of the teller’s window and handed her a plastic grocery style bag. Smith told the teller to fill it and to hurry up. The teller complied and handed the bag of money to Smith. Smith ran out of the bank. An audit of the teller’s drawer indicated a loss of $529.00.

On April 4, 2022, an IMPD officer spotted a black sedan with damage to the front driver’s side fender and a license plate matching the black sedan seen leaving Walgreens at a hotel on the west side of Indianapolis. A record check of the license plate on the black sedan revealed that the plate was registered to Smith.

On April 5, 2022, Smith drove to the area of a Fifth Third bank on East Southport Road in Indianapolis. Smith parked in a parking lot near the Fifth Third bank, walked across an adjoining park lot and entered the bank. Smith threw a robbery note over the counter to the teller demanding $10,000.00 Smith then threw a plastic bag over the counter and told the teller to hurry up. The teller placed the bag with the cash from her teller drawer onto the counter. Smith grabbed the bag, exited

the bank, began running toward his vehicle and drove away from the bank. After Smith turned onto Emerson Avenue, IMPD SWAT initiated a felony car stop disabling Smith’s vehicle. Smith fled the vehicle and ran for a short distance before giving up and lying face down on the ground. Officers approached Smith and confirmed his identity. Smith had $10,000 banded and stacked sitting in plain view on the front passenger floorboard of his vehicle. The stacks of money each had a Fifth Third bank stamp and were dated April 5, 2022. The money was seized by officers while Smith’s vehicle was secured and towed to IMPD facilities. An audit performed later by the bank of the Fifth Third teller’s drawer indicated a loss of $10,000.00.   

During Smith’s arrest, an officer observed that Smith’s cell phone was connected to the car’s stereo and IMPD’s dispatch radio traffic was playing through a scanner app over the car’s speakers. Smith was transported to IMPD for an interview where he admitted to the officers that he robbed the Fifth Third bank.

Smith was previously arrested and prosecuted in federal court, in 2016, for two counts of pharmacy robbery. Smith was under federal supervised release at the time of the new offenses.

Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana; Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office; and Police Chief Randal Taylor of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department; made the announcement.

FBI investigated the case in conjunction with IMPD. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon. As part of the sentence, Judge Hanlon ordered that Smith be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter A. Blackett who prosecuted this case.