United States Attorney Johnny Sutton
Western District of Texas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2006

Shana Jones, Special Assistant
Daryl Fields, Public Affairs Officer
(210) 384-7440

SERIAL BANK ROBBER SENTENCED IN AUSTIN

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton announced today that 25-year-old Jonathan Ellis, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Sam Sparks to 360 months in federal prison, five years supervised release and restitution in the sum of $59,000 for robberies committed in Austin and San Antonio, Texas. In addition to yesterday’s sentence, he will serve a term of 84 months to run consecutive to yesterday’s sentence for using a firearm during a crime of violence in Alabama.

On Friday, June 9th, 2006, Ellis pleaded guilty to two counts of armed bank robbery and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence and requested an expedited sentence. Defendant Ellis is a serial bank robber who committed armed robberies of 12 banks in four states including Texas (2), Louisiana (5), Georgia (4) and Alabama (1) between 2002 and 2004. He previously pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in Montgomery, Alabama on June 14, 2004, where he was arrested following a police chase. He was subsequently identified by fingerprints as the man who robbed a branch of the Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union in Austin of $25,000 on December 12, 2002, and who also robbed a branch of the Sterling Bank in San Antonio of $34,000 on June 27, 2003.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with the Austin Police Department, San Antonio Police Department and state and local law enforcement agencies in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. Assistant United States Attorney Gerald Carruth prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.