Ashref Abil Bannaga, Armed Bank Robbery, Maryland 2011

A 32-year-old Gaithersburg man has been sentenced to five years in prison for an armed bank robbery that occurred in Frederick, Maryland in 2011.

The robbery took place on December 7, 2011 at the Capitol One Bank located at 1305 W. 7th Street in Frederick, Maryland. Ashref Abil Bannaga, the defendant, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to five years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

At the time of the robbery, Bannaga was on federal supervised release after serving a sentence of 70 months for a 2006 Virginia bank robbery. The investigation revealed that Bannaga entered the bank with a mask and a hood covering his face, brandishing a replica BB-type gun and ordering employees and customers into one general area.

Bannaga demanded that the branch manager open the safe, but when this was not possible, he opened a teller drawer and stole approximately $5,995 before leaving the bank. A witness who entered the bank as Bannaga was exiting saw him show a gun and warned the witness not to do anything ‘stupid.’

The witness provided a partial front tag and a plate description to law enforcement, who located the truck in an adjacent parking lot. The rear tag of the truck was hanging on by one screw, as though it had just been reattached. The investigation revealed that the truck had been rented by Bannaga the day before the robbery.

Law enforcement recovered the clothing, mask, hat, and gloves worn by the robber, as well as most of the bank money and the gun on the construction site where Bannaga worked. Bannaga’s DNA was found on the mask and the hat used during the robbery.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and Frederick Police Department for their work in the investigation. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel M. Yasser, who prosecuted the case.

The defendant’s exact criminal charges were not specified in the press release, but the article reports that the defendant was sentenced for an armed bank robbery.

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