Toledo Armed Robber Sentenced to Over 16 Years

TOLEDO – Toledo’s own Don Woodson Ellis, 32, was handed a staggering 16-year-plus prison term – or 201 months – by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick on Feb. 2, 2023, for an armed bank heist and the audacity of carjacking.

Ellis’s criminal saga began on Aug. 13, 2018, when court documents reveal he snatched a vehicle from its rightful owner at a Toledo-area gas station, then turned his sights on the Fifth Third Bank on Glendale Ave, where he robbed a teller at gunpoint and made his escape.

But the story of Don Woodson Ellis didn’t end there. The man police thought was Ellis was actually someone else after a jailhouse swap. He convinced another inmate to switch identities with him and walked away from Lucas County Corrections Center days later. His real identity was uncovered by law enforcement in Michigan, but not before he’d committed more than one crime.

Ellis had already been banned from possessing firearms due to a prior felony conviction of bank robbery in Monroe County, Michigan. Yet, it wasn’t enough to stop his thieving ways. Now, the justice system has spoken: this violent criminal will be locked away for nearly two decades for his crimes.

The investigation into Ellis’s offenses was led by the Cleveland FBI, Toledo Resident Agency, and the Toledo Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Simko seeing the prosecution through to a conclusion.

As justice prevails in the sentencing of Don Woodson Ellis, the city of Toledo must hope that this sentence serves as a warning against such heinous acts of violence and lawlessness.

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