Crime & Safety

Gaithersburg Man Sentenced For Bank Robbery in Frederick

Prosecutors: Ashref Abil Bannaga was on supervised release for prior bank robbery at the time of the Frederick robbery.

A man from Gaithersburg was sentenced to five years in prison Friday for robbing a bank in Frederick, MD in 2011, the US Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Citing a plea agreement, federal attorneys said Ashref Abil Bannaga, 32, walked into a Capital One Bank on Dec. 7 with a mask and hood covering his face, brandishing what appeared to be a firearm.

Federal attorneys said Bannaga ordered bank employees and customers into a general area and ordered the branch manager to open the safe.  When the branch manager could not open it, Bannaga took nearly $6,000 from a teller drawer, the US Attorney’s Office said.

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Bannaga’s black getaway truck was later found in a nearby parking lot, according to the plea.

Police found the clothing, mask, hat, and gloves he wore during the robbery, a replica BB-type gun—as well as most of the bank money—on a construction site where Bannaga worked.

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U.S. District Judge U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Bannaga to an additional five years of supervised release.

According to the US Attorney’s Office, Bannaga was on federal supervised release for a prior bank robbery in Virginia when he robbed the Capital One Bank in Frederick.


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