Man convicted of robbing a Macon bank, threatening to shoot tellers gets prison time
A man convicted of robbing a Macon bank will spend more than nine years in prison, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
Gabriel Bell, who robbed the Truist Bank on Riverside Drive in Macon last year, was sentenced to nine years and three months in federal court Wednesday. The district attorney’s office said Bell walked into Truist Bank on Feb. 16 last year at 3:17 p.m. and handed a teller a note that demanded money. Bell was found guilty by a jury in March after a trial.
“Do anything stupid and I’ll shoot you,” the note said, according to evidence logged into court records.
Bell, wearing a blue surgical mask, went into the bank at a time when there were no customers.
The tellers at the time said Bell lifted his shirt to reveal something dark, silver with a handle that could have been a gun, according to prosecutors. Surveillance video showed Bell grabbing his hip, but no weapon was recovered.
After putting her hands up, the bank teller told Bell she did not have money and passed the note to another teller, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The second teller handed Bell cash and he left the bank.
Chief Judge Marc Treadwell sentenced Bell to seven years and three months for the robbery, but he sentenced him to an additional two years because this incident violated his supervised release in a separate case, according to court records.
Bell will also pay $3,000 in restitution to the bank, prosecutors said.
“Bell’s prior prison time was apparently not enough for him because he returned to his robbing ways while he was still on supervised release for the last crime he committed,” said Robert Gibbs, supervisory senior resident agent of the FBI’s Atlanta office. “Thanks to the assistance of our partners with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, he now will have more time in prison to think about what he’ll do when he is released from prison this time.”
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office shared photos of Bell from surveillance cameras, which led to two tips that identified Bell as the suspect, according to prosecutors.
“Our citizens can be grateful that dedicated investigative work from Bibb deputies and FBI agents have resulted in a repeat offender receiving prison time as a result of choosing crime as a career,” said Bibb County Sheriff David Davis.
The FBI also helped track Bell down after the robbery. Agents processed the demand note for fingerprints. After finding two latent fingerprints in the note that belonged to Bell, they tracked his location from Bell’s cell phone and Google account which confirmed he was near the bank at the time of the incident, the news release said.
“Law enforcement at every level is committed to keeping our communities safe from violence and seeking justice for victims,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary.
Bell was previously convicted of armed robbery in Jeffersonville in 2015 after robbing a Huddle House, according to court records.
