U.S. District Judge George L. Russell today sentenced Edward Omar Johnson, age 37, of Baltimore, Maryland to 141 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for committing five bank robberies and two attempted bank robberies in Baltimore and York, Pennsylvania, between February 27, 2019, and March 19, 2019. During each robbery, Johnson presented the victim teller with a demand note stating that he had a firearm.
The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; and Commissioner Michael Muldrow of the York City (Pennsylvania) Police Department.
According to his plea agreement, on February 27, 2019, Johnson robbed a bank in the 400 block of West Baltimore Street in Baltimore and robbed the same bank again on March 12, 2019. On March 4 and March 5, 2019, Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to rob banks in the 300 block of West Baltimore Street and the 2100 block of Eastern Avenue, both in Baltimore.
On March 5, 2019, Johnson robbed a bank located in the 2000 block of East Monument Street in Baltimore. On March 12, 2019, Johnson robbed a second bank located in the 1100 block of North Charles Street in Baltimore. Finally, on March 19, 2019, Johnson robbed a bank in the unit block of West Market Street in York, Pennsylvania, throwing the demand note at the teller, then reaching into the victim teller’s cash drawer and stealing $430 in cash. In that robbery, Johnson also inadvertently took a GPS tracker hidden in bait money, which he threw in a nearby dumpster.
On March 14, 2020, the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force issued a media release of the robbery surveillance images captured during the robberies in Maryland. The Baltimore Police Department subsequently received an anonymous tip that the robber was Johnson. Law enforcement obtained prior photos of Johnson which matched the physical appearance of the suspect in the bank robberies. On March 22, 2019, the York City Police Department located and arrested Johnson in York, Pennsylvania.
A search of Johnson recovered a bank robbery demand note, the language of which was consistent with the language in the notes used in previous robberies. Johnson waived his rights and during an interview with law enforcement admitted committing the robberies and identified himself in surveillance photos from the robberies. Later investigation revealed the existence of Johnson’s latent fingerprints on the demand notes he left behind after the attempted bank robbery and a successful bank robbery on March 5, 2019, and the two March 12, 2019, bank robberies.
Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner praised the FBI, the Baltimore Police Department, and the York City Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Riley, who prosecuted the case.
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