Opinion ID: 52553
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The SunTrust Bank Robbery

Text: On April 14, 2004, minutes after robbers held up the First National Bank in Tequesta, armed robbers struck again at a SunTrust bank in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The bank was located at the front of a shopping plaza. Bank surveillance cameras recorded what happened next. There were five employees in the bank at that time, and several customers. As in the case of the Bank America and the First National 12 bank robberies, the men burst through the doors of the bank, brandishing assault weapons. They were dressed entirely in black and wore gloves and face masks that obscured everything from view but their eyes and the bridges of their noses. The only way that witnesses could distinguish the men was on the basis of their relative height and by the fact that one man, the tallest one, who was at least 6'2, shouldered a long rifle with a strap. Two of the men began to round up the employees and customers at gunpoint, ordering them to lie down in the lobby, while the shortest member of the group jumped over the counter to the registers. He landed right next to tellers Terri Robinson and Pamela Cenk and ordered them to open their cash drawers. The tellers complied. Ms. Cenk saw the man pick up the stack of notes that contained the dye pack, and throw it back into her drawer. After he had removed the money from the cash drawers, he demanded to know who had the keys to the vault. Cenk replied that she did and the robber instructed her to take him back to the vault and open it. Cenk opened the vault for the robber, noting, as she looked at him, that the skin surrounding his eyes and the skin on the bridge of his nose was black. The robber began to fill a bag with the currency and after a short period, one of his cohorts joined him to help. Ms. Cenk noticed that the cohort was also black. Within minutes the two men were done and left. 13 Witnesses called 911 to report that three black males drove away from the bank in a blue Jeep Cherokee, exiting out the back of the shopping plaza. At that time, a magazine vendor, Dean Orrison, was parked behind a Publix store which was located in the same shopping plaza, preparing his magazine delivery. He heard a horn sound behind him, and turned to see a blue Grand Cherokee heading towards him at about 55 miles per hour. Orrison jumped out of the way to let the car pass and noticed as he did so that a person was leaning out a partially open door on the front passenger side of the vehicle. The passenger was dressed in black and had a turban-like headdress and mask. Orrison reported the incident to the assistant manager of the supermarket and the market’s delivery receiver, fearing that the person he saw was some sort of terrorist. Shortly thereafter, Officer John Brazas of the Port St. Lucie Police Department received a report about the SunTrust Bank robbery. Recalling that he had heard about an incident in which a getaway car was found abandoned near the scene of a bank robbery, he drove around the back of the shopping plaza where the bank was located. He observed a blue-colored jeep in the alleyway behind a Kmart store at the far end of the shopping plaza. The jeep was still running, but no keys were in the ignition and both the steering and the lock showed signs of damage consistent with a stolen vehicle. Officer Brazas subsequently received information from the Boca Raton Police Department about two cars that had been stolen from a 14 hotel parking lot the night before. One of the cars was a blue Jeep Cherokee; the other a grey minivan. As Officer Brazas was investigating the abandoned vehicle at the back of the shopping plaza, Robert McGhee, a criminal investigator for the Port St. Lucie Police Department, arrived on the scene of the robbery. When he walked into the bank, he saw a flowered pillowcase with stacks of money inside it on the floor of the lobby. He observed that the pillowcase had a red stain on it and a hole burned through the fabric, pinpointing the place where a dye pack had exploded inside. Bank employees reported that a passerby had found the pillowcase in the parking lot and turned it in. When Agent McGhee went outside to inspect the parking lot he found an area at the back of the lot that was indeed stained red. Eva Shaw, a regional manager for SunTrust, arrived within a half-hour of the robbery to perform an audit. She determined that the bank lost a total of $60,381, including $46,000 that had been damaged when the dye packs activated, and several “bait bills’ in twenty-dollar denominations. The bank had to ask the U.S. Treasury to replace the damaged money. SunTrust officials closed the bank for the remainder of the business day. Later that afternoon, Detectives Bryan Arlotta and Antonio Matias of the West Palm Beach Police Department’s auto-theft division received a notice to be on the lookout for two vehicles that had been used in bank robberies to the north 15 of West Palm Beach. The two robberies took place at nearly the same time and the robbers appeared to be following an m.o. used in earlier West Palm Beach bank robberies. The lookout notice or “BOLO” described one of the vehicles as a silver minivan. Detective Arlotta had been canvassing the neighborhood near 2100 Australian Avenue in West Palm Beach for stolen cars when he noticed a suspicious group of individuals exit a minivan that matched the description of the silver minivan in the BOLO. The men were dressed entirely in black. When they spotted the detective in his unmarked police vehicle, they took off. Later a young man appeared and wiped the hood of the van with a tee-shirt. Arlotta called his partner Detective Matias, who arrived on the scene within minutes, and several other officers, who established a watch outside the apartment that the men entered, which was on the third floor. Officers saw Juan Bannister exit that unit, apartment number 315, sometime thereafter and go upstairs to apartment number 414 with several other individuals. The detectives ran the numbers on the license tag, which came back clear, but they decided to walk around the car, nonetheless. Peering inside the vehicle, they noted that its steering column and ignition appeared damaged in a manner consistent with stolen cars. They entered the vehicle to look for the owner registration card and found a business card. Shortly thereafter, they heard from a 16 colleague in Boca Raton who was looking for a silver minivan that had been stolen the night before. Detectives Arlotta and Matias were able to determine at this point that the silver minivan was indeed stolen. They found several black teeshirts and a new black glove in the vehicle. The auto-theft detectives radioed Detective Houston who had already directed officers to both Bannister’s and Michael Lewis’ addresses, suspecting that they might be involved. Detective Houston rushed to 2100 Australian Avenue. Houston verified that Erica Wyatt was renting apartment 315, as Albert Minus had told him two weeks earlier when they discussed the Bank of America robbery, which had followed a similar m.o. He also verified that apartment 414, which officers had seen Bannister enter, was rented to a girlfriend of Josh Holloway, the individual that Minus had named as Bannister’s friend. Houston conferred with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and decided to secure a search warrant for both apartments. In the meantime, police established a perimeter around the apartment complex and began evacuating tenants in neighboring units. D. The Police Search at 2100 Australian Avenue, West Palm Beach Police secured a search warrant for units 315 and 414 at 4:00 p.m. on April 14, 2004. As they were about to perform the search, Bannister attempted to exit from unit 414, and police arrested him. When they entered unit 414, they found a 17 seventeen year-old black youth, John Wilkerson, inside the apartment and two assault rifles that matched the descriptions and surveillance video images of ones used in the robberies at SunTrust and First National Bank. No one was in unit 315, the apartment where Bannister lived with his girlfriend, when police entered, but they found ample evidence connecting Bannister with the bank robberies. The search yielded black clothing that matched the description of the clothing worn in the bank robberies and a pillowcase that matched the fabric and pattern of the pillowcase which the robbers left behind at the SunTrust bank in Port St. Lucie earlier that day. Police also recovered $14,700 from a safe, $440 from a dresser drawer and $5,140 from a pile of clothing in a bedroom closet. Altogether the cash totaled $20,480. Police considered this an unlikely figure for a tenant in government subsidized housing to have on hand, particularly in this case, where the tenant, Erica Wyatt, was a single mother with a monthly income of roughly $400. Police subsequently determined that some of the money in the pile on the bedroom floor and some of the money in the safe were “bait bills” traceable to the First National Bank robbery that took place that morning in Tequesta, Florida. E. The Arrests and Confessions of Co-Conspirators Police took Wilkerson and Bannister to the West Palm Beach police headquarters, but kept them sequestered from each other. Detective Houston 18 interviewed Wilkerson early the next morning and Wilkerson confessed to participating in the armed robbery of the SunTrust bank, providing a detailed description of the crime and how it was planned. Houston taped the interview. Wilkerson identified the other participants as Rashard Reddick and Juan Bannister and a third “anonymous” individual. Wilkerson would later identify the “anonymous” third person as Mike Lewis, someone with whom he was friends, but in his initial interview, he only identified him as an anonymous person. He did, however, provide police with a physical description of the third person that, as police would later find, fit Mike Lewis perfectly. He told police that the anonymous person was responsible for jumping the teller counter to get the money from the vault and that Rashard Reddick was responsible for rounding up the employees and standing guard over them. Wilkerson said that he provided back-up to the robber on the other side of the teller line. Wilkerson revealed that he ended up dropping the pillowcase that contained the money from the robbery when a dye pack exploded as they were leaving the parking lot. Bannister did not enter the bank, Wilkerson reported, because he was responsible for driving the second getaway car which he had parked and waiting at the back of the bank shopping plaza. According to Wilkerson, Bannister was not merely the getaway car driver, but the ringleader of the entire SunTrust operation and the outfitter for a separate 19 robbery at the First National Bank. Wilkerson told police that he accompanied Bannister to a Wal-Mart the night before the robbery so that they could buy the additional black clothing, gloves and face masks that would be needed for two teams of robbers. Wilkerson also provided details on the aftermath of the robbery. He told police that once they arrived at Erica Wyatt’s apartment complex, they unloaded the guns, wrapping sheets around them, and the money and carried them upstairs. They divvied up the money from the SunTrust robbery alongside another team of robbers who had held-up the First National Bank. That team included Bannister’s brothers and his father. Wilkerson said that he saw Bannister put money that the other team gave him in a safe. Once Reddick and Lewis received their share, they left, Wilkerson told police. He remained behind with Bannister and several hangers-on. As they were about to leave and take one of the rifles back to a recording studio that Bannister operated, they noticed Detective Arlotta’s unmarked police car outside. Bannister decided to move the guns up to his friend’s apartment on the fourth floor, and Wilkerson stayed in apartment 315 to hide his share of the money, which was roughly $2200. As more police cars gathered below, Wilkerson retreated to Bannister’s friend’s fourth floor apartment where police found him when they came to execute the search warrant. 20 West Palm Beach police decided to release Wilkerson after he provided his statement to explore the possibility of charging him with federal bank robbery charges. Because Wilkerson was a juvenile at the time, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office would have to approve and certify the charges against him, a process which was not automatic. Police did not offer Wilkerson any immunity in exchange for his confession. While Wilkerson was out on release, however, police arrested him for another armed bank robbery, and offered him use immunity for that offense if he would agree to participate in the government case against his coconspirators on the SunTrust robbery. When they finally charged Wilkerson as an adult for the SunTrust bank robbery, he pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery and to use of a firearm in connection with that crime. He received consecutive sentences of 46 months and 84 months and agreed to serve as a government witness in any remaining SunTrust prosecutions. Police arrested Wilkerson’s alleged co-conspirators, Michael Lewis and Rashard Reddick, on October 21, 2004 and charged them with armed robbery of the SunTrust bank. Both men are black males and both matched descriptions and video images of the robbers on the basis of stature. Lewis was under 5'8 and wiry, matching the description of the robber who first jumped behind the teller line. Reddick was a muscular 6'2, matching the description of the robber who held employees down in the lobby. 21 Lewis, who was serving a suspended sentence at the time for auto theft and awaiting sentencing for carrying a concealed weapon, pleaded guilty to armed robbery of the SunTrust bank and to using a firearm in connection with the robbery. He agreed to cooperate in the government’s case against Reddick and Bannister and was offered use immunity for his participation in the armed bank robbery of the Wachovia bank on December 10, 2003. Reddick agreed to speak with police after he was arrested for his role in the SunTrust robbery and he confessed to being a participant in the armed robbery. He identified himself and the other participants in surveillance photographs of the robbery, naming John Wilkerson as another participant and Bannister as the driver of the getaway car. Reddick did not name Lewis as the other participant, but pointed him out in surveillance photographs as “Vince.” Meanwhile, Bannister had been placed in a holding cell with Albert Minus, who was awaiting a hearing for violation of his probation. Minus expressed surprise to see Bannister and asked him why he had been arrested. According to Minus, Bannister responded that the police said something about banks and later mentioned “we did a lick for $94,000 and ten - -$13,000.” F. Legal Proceedings Against Bannister and Reddick On December 16, 2004, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Juan Bannister, Rashard Reddick, a/k/a “Pit Bull,” and Michael Lewis, a/k/a 22 “MG” for a series of offenses in connection with the armed robberies of the Bank of America, First National and SunTrust banks.1 The indictment charged each of the defendants with the following offenses: conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C.§ 371; the commission of bank robbery by force or violence under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and (d); interference in interstate commerce through threat or violence under 18 U.S.C. §1951(a); and brandishing a firearm during the commission of a bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 924(c)(1)(A). The United States (“Government”) filed twelve counts against Bannister, charging him in connection with the armed robberies of the Bank of America, First National Bank, and SunTrust Bank. Reddick and Lewis were named in four counts each for their roles in the SunTrust bank robbery. Lewis entered a guilty plea on his charges and agreed to serve as a witness for the prosecution. Thereafter, the Government proceeded to trial with the charges against Reddick and Bannister on February 15, 2005. The district court empaneled two separate juries for the trial. In addition to the testimony referred to above, the Government also presented DNA evidence that linked Bannister to the pillowcase left at the SunTrust bank and to the steering wheel of one of the getaway cars. Reddick moved for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the 1 This was the fifth superceding indictment against the defendants. 23 Government’s case, but the court submitted his case to the jury. Neither Reddick nor Bannister presented any evidence in his own defense. On March 7, 2005, both juries returned verdicts that found the defendants guilty as charged on all counts. Reddick renewed his motion for judgment of acquittal, but the court denied it. On May 27, 2005, the court delivered its sentence. The court sentenced Bannister to imprisonment for a period of 984 months. This sentence included concurrent jail terms of 60, 296, and 240 months on the conspiracy, armed bank robbery, and obstruction of commerce violations, and consecutive jail terms of 84, 300, and 300 months for the corresponding firearm offenses. The court also ordered Bannister to pay restitution in the amount of $177,275.62. Reddick received a sentence of 199 months of imprisonment. His sentence included three concurrent jail terms of 60, 115 and 115 months on the conspiracy, armed bank robbery, and obstruction of commerce violations, and one 84 month jail term on the accompanying firearm offense. The court ordered the latter term to run consecutively with the terms for the underlying offenses and ordered Reddick to pay restitution in the amount of $13,718.01. Reddick filed an appeal of his conviction and sentence with this Court on June 1, 2005. Reddick argued that his convictions for armed bank robbery and interfering in interstate commerce were multiplicitous. So too, Reddick argued, were his convictions for possession of a firearm during the commission of a 24 robbery and armed robbery. Reddick did not raise these challenges at trial, however. Reddick also challenged the sufficiency of the evidence that was used to convict him, and argued that the court erred when it denied his motion for judgment of acquittal. Additionally, Reddick challenged the court’s decision to admit the testimony of his alleged co-conspirators, asserting that the Government “paid” them for their testimony. Reddick did not object to the testimony when it was introduced at trial, however. Finally, Reddick argued that the court erred when it applied the sentencing guidelines. Bannister, Reddick’s co-defendant, filed a separate appeal with this Court on June 6, 2005. He argued, as Reddick had, that the armed bank robbery and interference in interstate commerce conviction were multiplicitous. Bannister argued that it was similarly violative of the Fifth Amendment prohibition against double jeopardy to impose multiple sentences for these convictions, although he did not raise these issues during trial. Bannister also challenged the admission of certain testimony that he had attempted to exclude with a pre-trial motion in limine. Finally, Bannister challenged the court’s application of the federal sentencing guidelines.