A prolific armed robber who was captured thanks to an alert reader of The Washington Examiner is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
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Prosecutors are seeking a lesser sentence of 5 1/4 years for the 64-year-old Jerome Thomas, partially because he admitted to a dozen robberies after law enforcement officials brought him in for questioning.
FBI agents had dubbed Thomas the “Bespectacled Bandit” because he wore reading glasses while committing the bank heists during a 16-month period. In most of the cases, from between November 2009 and March 2011, the robber slipped the teller a note claiming that he was armed, “I have a gun in my hand and 2 pipe bombs in my bag. Give me 100s and 50s only NOW and no one gets hurt.”
But no weapon was ever displayed, no injuries were reported, and authorities said Thomas netted about $22,000.
Authorities started targeting Thomas in May 2010 after The Examiner ran a photo from one of the heists, and the FBI received a tip from a newspaper reader who recognized Thomas, according to FBI officials. Federal investigators reviewed surveillance photographs from the banks and thought the robber resembled Thomas. Two other people who know Thomas identified him as the robber in the photographs, the documents say.
He was arrested on March 16, the night of his last robbery, according to court documents.
Law enforcement officials observed Thomas at his Southeast D.C. home that night, and he was wearing the same clothing as in the surveillance footage. He was taken into custody and admitted to the string of bank robberies.
Thomas’ largest haul came in a Jan. 18, 2011, robbery, when he made off with $3,700.
He was the 29th person apprehended as a result of being featured in The Examiner. Tips from readers have helped authorities capture 35 suspects and fugitives in three years.
