Man Found Guilty of Bank Theft from Armored Car

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia
October 7, 2010

Two Others Earlier Convicted in Case

WASHINGTON—Abdul Kanu, 24, recently was convicted of bank theft for his role in a staged armored car robbery in May 2008 in Northwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and John G. Perren, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office.

Kanu, of Hyattsville, Md., was convicted Sept. 22, 2010 by a jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He is to be sentenced Dec. 16, 2010 before the Honorable Richard J. Leon. Kanu faces a maximum possible sentence of up to 10 years of incarceration. The defendant's more likely sentence under the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines will be between 27 to 33 months of incarceration.

The evidence presented at trial showed that Kanu and two of his friends, one of whom was the driver of a Dunbar armored truck, planned to commit a staged armed robbery of the truck the friend drove. The two friends were prosecuted and convicted earlier.

The staged robbery took place May 22, 2008 in the 1100 block of 19th Street NW. One of Kanu's friends boarded the armored truck carrying a Taser and pellet gun, and took $210,000 from his second friend, the Dunbar employee. Kanu remained in the getaway car during the staged robbery. He received $40,000 of the $210,000 proceeds.

In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the efforts of the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force and Evidence Response Team. He acknowledged the efforts of the following employees of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia: Legal Assistant Latoya Wade; Paralegals Jeannette Litz and Phaylyn Hunt; William Henderson, Joseph Calvarese, and Joshua Ellen, of Litigation Support; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Schmidt, who indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frederick Yette and April Fearnley, who tried the case.