Shawn Kelley, Robbery, Georgia 2022

Savannah, GA: A brazen bank robbery on September 15, 2022, has landed a Louisiana man in federal prison for over 13 years. Shawn Kelley, 45, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to robbing the Wells Fargo Bank at 136 Bull Street in Savannah.

According to court documents and testimony, Kelley walked into the bank and demanded cash from the teller. After leaving with a substantial amount of money, Kelley was found by Savannah Police officers at the bus station, still in possession of the cash and changing out of the clothes he’d worn during the robbery.

Kelley, on probation after being paroled from a 2015 conviction for a Gwinnett County credit union robbery, has a total of six prior convictions for robberies dating back to a mugging conviction in 2000 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His lengthy criminal history includes bank and credit union robberies in Louisiana and Georgia over the past two decades.

U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg said, ‘For most of his adult life, Shawn Kelley has committed robberies, served time in prison, and re-offended. A lengthy term of incarceration will keep the community safe from this serial criminal and hopefully deter others from making the same choices.’

Kelley was sentenced to 163 months in prison, with no parole, as ordered by U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker. The sentence will run consecutively with time remaining for his state probation violation. Kelley will also serve three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term.

Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Keri Farley, stated, ‘This sentence makes it very clear that criminals who repeatedly break the law will be held accountable with lengthy prison terms, without the opportunity for parole.’

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Savannah Police Department, and prosecuted for the United States by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Makeia R. Jonese, and by Assistant U.S. Attorney and Criminal Division Deputy Chief E. Gregory Gilluly Jr.

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