Civilian Army Officer Alan Kemp Pleads Guilty to Armed Bank Robbery

Baltimore, Maryland — A badge didn’t stop Alan Kemp, 38, of District Heights, Maryland, from becoming an armed bank robber. On August 26, 2016, Kemp walked into a bank in the 8400 block of Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City dressed in all black, wearing a mask, gloves, a Baltimore Ravens hat, and glasses — and carrying a loaded handgun. He pointed the weapon at a teller and demanded cash. No warnings. No hesitation. Just cold, calculated robbery.

Kemp, who was employed as a civilian police officer with the Department of the Army at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, stuck the money in a black trash bag and vanished into nearby woods. But investigators closed in fast. Detectives tracked him to the intersection of Thunder Hill and Twin Knolls Roads, where he emerged from the trees and entered a vehicle. Police moved in, stopped the car, and arrested Kemp on the spot. A search revealed an empty brown leather holster on his waistband — the gun was gone.

Officers didn’t have to look far. In the brush nearby, they found a cooler. Inside: the black trash bag stuffed with stolen cash. Fingerprint analysis later confirmed Kemp’s prints on the cooler’s interior. The gun — a loaded black and tan handgun with 12 rounds in the magazine and a round chambered — was recovered from the unsecured trunk of Kemp’s car. Evidence didn’t just link him to the scene. It sealed his fate.

On the day of his plea, Kemp stood before U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III and admitted guilt to two federal counts: armed bank robbery and using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. The charges carry a maximum of 25 years for the robbery, plus a mandatory minimum of five years — consecutive — for the firearm charge, with a possible sentence stretching to life in prison. The irony isn’t lost on law enforcement: a man sworn to uphold the law used that very cover to break it.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, who announced the plea alongside FBI Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson and Howard County Police Chief Gary Gardner, made no excuses. “This was a brazen, violent crime committed by someone who wore a uniform,” Rosenstein said. “No badge gives you the right to terrorize a bank and point a loaded gun at innocent workers.” He commended the FBI and Howard County Police for their swift, precise work in dismantling Kemp’s evasion.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 12, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. in federal court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron S. J. Zelinsky is prosecuting the case. For Kemp, the uniform is gone. What remains is a loaded record — and a prison cell likely waiting.