Missouri Man Sentenced to 108 Months for Robbing Banks in Columbia Heights and Minneapolis

April 28, 2010 - Today in federal court in Minneapolis, a 29-year-old Missouri man was sentenced for robbing two Minnesota banks in November of 2009. United States District Court Judge David S. Doty sentenced Dorrell Emmanuel King to 108 months in prison on two counts of bank robbery. Judge Doty granted the government’s motion for an upward sentencing departure from the applicable guideline range of 46-57 months’ imprisonment because King’s previous federal conviction in 2000 involved the consolidation of 14 bank robberies committed in six different states during just a six-month period of time.

King was indicted on January 6, 2010, for the November 2009 robberies and pled guilty on February 9, 2010. In his plea agreement, King admitted taking $3,750 from a US Bank in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, on November 17, 2009, and $3,460 from a TCF Bank in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 19, 2009.

According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in this case, the US Bank was robbed at 1:30 p.m., November 17, by a lone man. After attempting unsuccessfully to obtain money via a check card, the man, later identified as King, gave a teller a pay stub with the word “robbery” written on it. Then, upon demanding and receiving cash, he fled the premises on foot.

The TCF Bank, located inside a Cub Foods store, was robbed at 2 p.m., November 19, again by a lone man. In that instance, the man handed a teller a check stub with “10 stacks” written on it. He also gave the teller a pre-paid debit card and requested a cash advance against it. After seeing no name on the debit card, the teller refused to complete the transaction. As a result, the man, later identified as King, responded, “Okay, let me show you what I need.” He then wrote “robbery” on the check stub and gave it back to the teller. The teller, in return, gave him cash along with a dye pack. After grabbing what was provided, the man quickly left the premises.

Police at the Cub Foods store immediately following the November 19 robbery retrieved dye-stained money from the ground. Witnesses to the crime reported seeing a man clouded in red smoke walking away from the store. Moreover, the store’s exterior surveillance video showed the dye pack exploding in the robber’s hands as he tried to get inside a parked taxi. Shortly after the investigation began, a man matching the robber’s description was spotted in a nearby Target parking lot, ducking behind cars. The man was subsequently apprehended by law enforcement. At the time of his arrest, the man’s hands and clothing were stained with red dye.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Minneapolis Police Department, the Columbia Heights Police Department, and the FBI. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Dunne.