Jury Convicts Man Of Bank Robbery

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A Las Vegas man who was wanted by law enforcement in the District of Arizona for escaping from a Bureau of Prisons facility was found guilty by a jury yesterday of bank robbery, announced U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson for the District of Nevada.

After a two-day trial, Richard Lee Canterbury, 68, was convicted of one-count of bank robbery. United States District Judge Kent J. Dawson presided over the trial. Sentencing is scheduled for May 30, 2018.

According to the indictment, on March 16, 2016, Canterbury entered a Nevada State Bank on Southern Highlands Parkway wearing a gray “fisherman” style hat, dark glasses, and a blue and white striped long sleeve shirt under a gray zip up vest, carrying a blue zip top bank bag. He approached a teller and showed a handwritten note which stated: “This Is A Robbery No Tricks Loose Bills Only Cooperate No One Gets Hurt Otherwise Everyone Dies.” The teller complied and placed approximately $1,901 and a GPS tracking device into the bag. Canterbury left the bank.

Soon after, using information from the GPS tracker and the description provided by the bank teller, officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department located and stopped Canterbury’s vehicle. Officers located the stolen bank cash, the blue zip top bank bag, the handwritten note, and the tracker in his vehicle. Canterbury was still wearing the clothes that he wore during the robbery. He was arrested and taken into custody. Canterbury was serving a 46 month federal sentence for Felon in Possession of Firearms at the time when he escaped from the facility on January 27, 2016.

At the time of sentencing, Canterbury faces the statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa Cartier-Giroux and Jared L. Grimmer are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, Attorney General Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN. For more information about PSN, visit www.justice.gov/usao-nv.

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