Armed Bank Robber from Maryland Sentenced to 77 Months

WASHINGTON - Ronald Lamont Jenkins, 36, of Temple Hills, Maryland, was sentenced today to 77 months in prison for the June 2022 armed robbery of a TD Bank in Northeast Washington D.C. and ordered to pay $8,345.00 in restitution to TD Bank. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the FBI Washington Field Office, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Jenkins pleaded guilty on May 12, 2024, to a one count indictment charging him with bank robbery before Judge Randolph D. Moss in the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, Judge Moss ordered Jenkins to serve three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, FBI agents and MPD officers responded on June 13, 2022, to the TD Bank branch on the 900 block of Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, D.C. Upon arrival, FBI agents met with the victim teller at the bank. The teller told agents that soon after the branch's security guard went on break, an unknown man entered the bank, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, neon yellow/green gloves, and brown boots. The man approached the counter and ordered the teller "open the drawer." The teller did not realize what the man had said at first. The man repeated "open the drawer." As the teller looked up, the man lifted his shirt to display the handle of a handgun located in his waistband. The teller opened the register. The man reached over the counter and grabbed more than $8,000. As he fled, he dropped several of the stolen bills in the bank's vestibule.

FBI agents canvassed the area and reviewed commercial and residential surveillance video. The video showed the bank robber traveling on foot northbound in the alley east of 10th Street, Northeast. Agents discovered a blue left-foot water shoe along a fence line adjacent to a residential yard on the 2400 block of 10th Street, Northeast. During their search, agents recovered a pair of neon yellow gloves, a black Calvin Klein hooded sweatshirt, a pair of brown Nike size 8.5 men's shoes, gray "Champion" sweatpants, a black mask, and two plastic grocery-style bags, one of which contained a $100 bill with fingerprints. The agents noted that the clothing was "soaked in sweat," which was consistent with that day's temperature of 91 degrees with a heat index as high as 97 degrees.

FBI agents tracked the suspect's movements from a nearby liquor store to the Prince George's Plaza Metro Station in Prince Georges, County. Based on the evidence recovered, agents deduced he likely lived in Maryland.

The FBI reviewed law enforcement reports from other robberies in the DMV, specifically those involving the modus operandi of wearing two sets of clothes to commit the robbery and removing the outer clothes shortly after to make a getaway. Agents learned of the knife-point robbery on August 5, 2021, at a Lowe's Home Improvement Store in Bowie, Maryland.

In that robbery's immediate aftermath, Bowie City police officers received a call of a suspicious male running through residential backyards near the Lowe's. Soon after, a man was seen walking out of the wood line behind the caller's residence. Officers stopped Ronald Lamont Jenkins, whose clothes were wet. Prince George's County K9 Officers searched of the immediate area. The K9 led officers directly from Jenkins into the wood line where they recovered a $20 bill, a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants with green zipper pockets, and black shoes with white soles. The clothes matched those worn by the suspect in the robbery of the Lowe's. Investigators recovered DNA samples from the clothing. Later analysis showed the DNA on the clothing matched DNA recovered from items discarded after the bank robbery.

The FBI arrested Jenkins on November 14, 2023.

This case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office's Violent Crime Task Force and the Metropolitan Police Department. Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI's Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, and the police department of Prince George's County, Md.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emory V. Cole and James Nelson of the Federal Major Crimes section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

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