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Description: Tulsa, Oklahoma criminal law lawyer represented Defendant charged with bank robbery.
Jerry Ray Brown, age 44, pleaded guilty to all of the original bank robbery counts in the charged indictment, and he did so without a plea agreement from the United States. Brown lived in Skiatook at the time of the robberies and later in Bixby while criminal proceedings were pending.
Brown executed bank robberies at Oklahoma Capital Bank in Skiatook on March 12, 2020, and Exchange Bank in Sperry on May 7, 2020. In both robberies, Brown demanded bank employees take him to their vaults and open their ATMs.
Bank tellers and surveillance video at both locations described or showed the suspect as being around 6 feet tall and weighing between 200 and 250 pounds. The suspect wore a black mask, distinctive black and gray gloves with a yellow logo; carried a black backpack; and drove a silver SUV. One of the tellers at the Skiatook bank suggested the robber’s mannerisms and build reminded her of Jerry Brown, who banked there.
Through their investigation, law enforcement was able to link Brown to the robberies and arrested him. They believed Brown’s likely motive for the robberies was to alleviate the numerous professional and personal financial problems he had been experiencing.
He was charged in federal court on Oct. 27, 2020, and later released while awaiting further criminal proceedings in the case.
On Oct. 25, 2021, authorities initially received a report that Brown was potentially kidnapped from his residence in Bixby in the early morning hours. Later that morning, Nowata police officers initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle registered to Brown. Instead of stopping, Brown eluded officers and disappeared. Just after 8 am, Brown was arrested by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office in Kansas for the alleged theft of gasoline, evading authorities, and other charges. Brown was later returned to federal custody.
“Jerry Brown’s string of criminal acts included two bank robberies and attempting to escape prosecution by staging his own disappearance to look like a kidnapping,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “This bank robber has been held accountable and will spend 51 months in federal prison.”
"The FBI would like to thank the Skiatook Police Department, Owasso Police Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office for their hard work in this investigation,” said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray. “We are gratified Brown is being brought to justice for his crimes, and can no longer target Oklahoma’s financial institutions or intimidate innocent citizens.”
U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Jerry Ray Brown, 44, to 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. The sentence was within the federal guideline range for the crimes. Judge Frizzell also ordered Brown to pay just over $260,000 in restitution, representing the stolen bank funds that had not yet been recovered.
During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Roberts argued for a sentence within the guideline range while the defense argued for a sentence below the guideline range, requesting Brown serve just over 12 months in federal prison. The defense pointed to Brown’s life of service prior to the bank robberies and the extreme financial and personal struggles he had been dealing with at the time of the crimes. Brown then apologized to the victims. He stated that as a former firefighter, he had been a life saver but ultimately became a life destroyer when he committed the robberies.
In a statement to the Court, one victim said that the anxiety she experienced had been crippling and had taken her mentally away from her children. She agreed with Brown and said that he had been a life destroyer—that his actions not only affected the victim but also her family. She said that she had suffered hardships following the robberies, but unlike Brown, she had not committed any criminal acts.
The FBI, Skiatook Police Department, and Owasso Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. Roberts prosecuted the case.
18:2113(a) - Bank Robbery; 18:981(a)(1)(c) and 28:2461 - Bank Robbery Forfeiture
(1-2)
(a) Whoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to take, from the person or presence of another, or obtains or attempts to obtain by extortion any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association; or
Whoever enters or attempts to enter any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association, or any building used in whole or in part as a bank, credit union, or as a savings and loan association, with intent to commit in such bank, credit union, or in such savings and loan association, or building, or part thereof, so used, any felony affecting such bank, credit union, or such savings and loan association and in violation of any statute of the United States, or any larceny—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(b) Whoever takes and carries away, with intent to steal or purloin, any property or money or any other thing of value exceeding $1,000 belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; or
Whoever takes and carries away, with intent to steal or purloin, any property or money or any other thing of value not exceeding $1,000 belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
(c) Whoever receives, possesses, conceals, stores, barters, sells, or disposes of, any property or money or other thing of value which has been taken or stolen from a bank, credit union, or savings and loan association in violation of subsection (b), knowing the same to be property which has been stolen shall be subject to the punishment provided in subsection (b) for the taker.
(d) Whoever, in committing, or in attempting to commit, any offense defined in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty-five years, or both.
(e) Whoever, in committing any offense defined in this section, or in avoiding or attempting to avoid apprehension for the commission of such offense, or in freeing himself or attempting to free himself from arrest or confinement for such offense, kills any person, or forces any person to accompany him without the consent of such person, shall be imprisoned not less than ten years, or if death results shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.
(f) As used in this section the term “bank” means any member bank of the Federal Reserve System, and any bank, banking association, trust company, savings bank, or other banking institution organized or operating under the laws of the United States, including a branch or agency of a foreign bank (as such terms are defined in paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978), and any institution the deposits of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
(g) As used in this section the term “credit union” means any Federal credit union and any State-chartered credit union the accounts of which are insured by the National Credit Union Administration Board, and any “Federal credit union” as defined in section 2 of the Federal Credit Union Act. The term “State-chartered credit union” includes a credit union chartered under the laws of a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
(h) As used in this section, the term “savings and loan association” means—
(1) a Federal savings association or State savings association (as defined in section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(b))) having accounts insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and
(2) a corporation described in section 3(b)(1)(C) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(b)(1)(C)) that is operating under the laws of the United States.
Outcome: BOP 51 months each count concurrent; SR 3 years each count; Restitution $260,353; SMA $100 each count
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