Clifford Terrell, Bank Robbery, GA 2017

Clifford Terrell, 44, of Barnesville, GA, admitted in federal court to executing a calculated bank robbery spree across Middle and Southwest Georgia in September 2017. On May 2, 2019, Terrell pleaded guilty to one count of Bank Robbery before the Honorable Marc Treadwell in Macon. His sentencing is scheduled for August 7, 2019, in U.S. District Court, where he faces federal prison time for a crime spree that rattled small-town banks and tested local law enforcement.

The first robbery struck on September 5, 2017, at the BB&T branch on North Lee Street in Forsyth. Ten days later, on September 10, 2017, Terrell hit the CB&T on Milgen Road in Columbus. He returned on September 22, 2017, to rob the SB&T on Zebulon Road in Macon—this time walking in, handing a teller a note demanding $2,500 cash. When the teller initially mistook the demand for a withdrawal slip error, Terrell leaned in and said, “I’m not teasing, I want you to give me $2500… I don’t want to hurt anybody and I don’t want to see any police.” The teller complied, handing over the cash packed with a dye explosive.

It was that dye pack that helped crack the case. After the Macon robbery, witnesses gave investigators the tag number of Terrell’s vehicle. A search warrant led agents to his Barnesville residence, where they found his car stained with dye matching the explosive device. Inside the home, investigators recovered clothing identical to what the suspect wore in security footage from all three banks—linking Terrell beyond doubt to each heist.

The investigation was a joint effort involving the Forsyth Police Department, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the FBI. The collaboration spanned jurisdictions, tracking a serial robber who believed he could exploit the quiet routines of regional banks. Instead, he ran into a wall of coordinated law enforcement action.

“I want to thank our local and federal law enforcement partners who worked quickly to identify and arrest a serial bank robber,” said Charles “Charlie” Peeler, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “The safety and well-being of our citizens is our highest priority, and we are committed to making sure people who commit violent crime and disrupt the peace are held accountable.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Will R. Keyes is prosecuting the case. For further information, media may contact Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, at (478) 621-2603, or Melissa Hodges, Public Affairs Director (Contractor), at (478) 765-2362. Terrell remains in custody pending sentencing.