A man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for holding up nine people at District ATMs in one month.
John Woodland, 45, robbed or tried to rob people as they used automated teller machines around the city between April 20, 2010, and May 19, 2010. According to prosecutors, he often used a knife to threaten his victims as he demanded money and used their cards to withdraw cash from their accounts.
He pleaded guilty to nine crimes in March in D.C. Superior Court. The robberies occurred across Northwest Washington were reported at all hours.
He was nabbed when a plainclothes Secret Service agent saw him try to commit a robbery at an ATM on the 800 block of 17th Street NW on May 19, 2010. He was apprehended and D.C. detectives linked him to the other cases.
