BEAUMONT, Texas — An 18-year-old LaPorte man walked into a Texas First Bank in Hull and walked out with $7,350, a guilty plea, and a date with federal prison. Aaron Gonzalez admitted in court to robbing the bank by force or intimidation, marking the end of a swift investigation that tied him to the crime through surveillance and eyewitness testimony.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn on May 16, 2019. The holdup occurred on March 6, 2019, when he entered the bank on FM 834 and handed a threatening note to a teller. No shots were fired, but the intimidation was enough to net him thousands in cash before he fled the scene.
Within weeks, federal and local investigators closed in. Video footage captured Gonzalez’s face and his getaway vehicle. Witnesses confirmed key details. By April 3, 2019, a federal grand jury had returned an indictment in the Eastern District of Texas, charging Gonzalez with the felony offense.
The case was a joint operation involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the LaPorte Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Their collaboration cut through the noise, turning a rural bank robbery into a textbook federal prosecution.
Gonzalez now faces up to 20 years in federal prison under the statute for bank robbery. While Congress sets the maximum, the actual sentence will be determined by the court using advisory guidelines and other statutory factors. No sentencing date has been set pending a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert L. Rawls handled the prosecution. U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown confirmed the plea, underscoring the federal government’s commitment to holding violent offenders accountable, even when the heist is small and the suspect young.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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