Serial Bank Robber Sentenced to Twenty Years

Dandre R. Brown, 30, of Godfrey, Illinois, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Steven D. Weinhoeft, announced today. Brown, who originally hails from Douglasville, Georgia, had been charged in a six-count federal indictment with five counts of bank robbery and one count of transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines. He pleaded guilty to the charges back in November 2018.

Documents filed in federal district court revealed that over a span of six weeks, Brown committed five bank robberies in Madison County, Illinois

As part of his guilty plea, Brown further admitted robbing a U.S. Bank in Florissant, Missouri, on December 11, 2017. On that occasion, Brown made off with $1,625 and then fled back to Illinois in a stolen car.

Brown’s six bank robberies all followed the same basic modus operandi. Brown would enter the bank alone wearing something covering his head. He would present the teller with a note and then flee with the money to a vehicle parked a block or two away. On four occasions, when demanding money from the bank tellers, Brown told the tellers he knew where they lived, intimating that he might come after them personally if they did anything to thwart his crimes.

Investigators were able to identify Brown because of outstanding police work at the local and federal level. After robbing the U.S. Bank in Alton, Brown dropped the demand note he had presented the teller. The note read, "Give me all the money NO Die Packs I have a weapon." Officers with the Alton Police Department found the note in the grass across the street from the bank and sent it to the FBI crime lab, where four latent fingerprints and one latent palm print were discovered and subsequently matched to Brown. A federal arrest warrant was issued, and the United States Marshals Service tracked Brown to Atlanta, Georgia, where they apprehended him on January 23, 2018.

Before Brown was sentenced, the district court received statements from several of the victim bank tellers, who reported their experiences as "very damaging and traumatizing." One teller was so affected by Brown’s threats that she became uncomfortable in her home and had difficulty sleeping. The experience led another victim to leave her employment at the bank. The woman whose car was stolen told the court that for a week afterward she was too afraid to go home because, along with her car, Brown had stolen her house keys.

Brown’s criminal record includes a 2006 conviction for armed robbery in St. Louis, and he was on parole for theft when he committed the bank robberies. His federal sentence includes a three-year term of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay over $35,000 in restitution.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address violent crime, the Justice Department announced the reinvigoration of PSN ("PSN 2.0") and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001.

This prosecution is the result of a collaborative investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Illinois State Police, Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the following police departments: Granite City, Alton, St. Louis County, Godfrey, East Alton, Wood River, and Edwardsville. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James G. Piper, Jr. and Alexandria M. Burns.