Man who reportedly robbed Abilene Chase bank sentenced to 10 years in federal prison
An Albuquerque man thought to have committed a string of bank robberies across Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Mississippi, and California was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for an armed bank robbery in Abilene.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham, Fernando Enriquez, 35, pleaded guilty in July to one count of aggravated bank robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
He was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix.
According to plea papers, Enriquez admitted that March 29, he entered a Chase Bank branch in Abilene, brandished a firearm, demanded cash from the teller and then fled the scene.
Both the teller and another employee activated their silent alarms during the robbery. When law enforcementarrived, a witness turned over cellphone video he’d recorded of the suspect exiting the bank and entering awhite Chevrolet suburban bearing Mississippi license plates.
Shortly thereafter, Texas Department of Public Safety and Abilene Police Department officers pulled over the suburban in Merkel and detained Enriquez and his girlfriend.
Inside the vehicle, officers found a firearm, a gray hoodie that matched descriptions of the one worn by the robber, and a significant sum of money.
Law enforcement transported Enriquez and his girlfriend to the Abilene Police Department, where the woman told FBI agents that over the past 14 months, she and Mr. Enriquez had lived in Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico and California.
She stated that though Enriquez was not employed most of that time, he always seemed to have cash on hand.She told officers that prior to the robbery, Enriquez left her and his children at a motel, stating he had to fill their car with gas.
When he returned, she said, he rushed to get the vehicle loaded and leave. She described Mr. Enriquez’s driving during their departure from Abilene as faster and more erratic than usual.
Other suspected cases
Based on physical description and the modus operandi, investigators believed that the suspect who committed the Abilene robbery may have committed similar robberies in other states.
They showed the girlfriend two photographs from the other bank robberies, both provided by the FBI in Phoenix. She identified the man in the photographs as Enriquez.
On April 19, Enriquez was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Arizona with four counts of bank robbery and four counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Following his sentencing, Enriquez will be transported to the District of Arizona to face those charges.
The FBI’s Phoenix and Dallas Field Offices conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety, APD and Taylor County Sheriff’s Office.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Man who reportedly robbed Abilene Chase bank sentenced to 10 years
