District of Columbia Man Receives 57-Month Prison Term for Robbing Downtown SunTrust Bank
--Bank Robber was Foiled when Spotted Leaving Wholesale Liquidator Where He Had Gone to Spend the Proceeds of the Robbery--

Washington, D.C.– A 49-year-old District of Columbia man, Haskell E. Parker, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle to a term of 57 months in prison for robbing a SunTrust Bank in Northwest Washington, D.C. in December 2007, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced.

Parker entered his guilty plea to one count of bank robbery on March 7, 2008. As part of his guilty plea, the defendant agreed to pay an additional $1397 in restitution in connection with another bank robbery that took place in Georgetown four days earlier.

Parker admitted during the plea proceeding that on Friday, December 21, 2007, at approximately 11:15 a.m., he robbed the SunTrust Bank located at 1369 Connecticut Avenue, NW, by passing to the teller a note demanding money. In response, the teller gave Parker a total of $695, which monies included a packet of bills containing a tracking device. Parker took the money, left the bank and immediately traveled to National Wholesale Liquidators, where he made numerous purchases with the proceeds of the robbery.

Upon leaving the store, Parker requested a ride from one of the store's courtesy van drivers. As the van approached the exit to the parking lot, which was being monitored by law enforcement, agents saw Parker in the passenger seat of the van and realized that he appeared to match a bank surveillance photo that had been e-mailed to them. Agents then stopped the van and detained Parker, who later was identified by the bank teller as the person who had robbed him. In searches of Parker and the van, agents recovered approximately $535, the glasses worn by Parker during the robbery, the demand note, the tracking device, and Parker’s purchases, which included clothes and electronics.