Man Sentenced to Serve Over 15 Years in Prison for Oklahoma City Carjacking and Lawton Bank Robbery

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Oklahoma
March 9, 2009

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—Earlier today, LARRY COLLIER TAYLOR, JR., 25, formerly from Texas and Georgia, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen P. Friot to serve 181 months in federal prison for his conviction for carjacking, bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, announced John C. Richter, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Taylor was convicted by a jury on October 15, 2008, after a trial that lasted a little more than a day. The jury deliberated for about 30 minutes before finding Taylor guilty on all counts.

The evidence at trial showed that while a woman was unloading her children from a car seat in a Northwest Oklahoma City apartment complex parking lot on May 4, 2008, Taylor and another male approached the vehicle with a firearm and forcibly carjacked her 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. On May 7, 2008, Taylor and an accomplice entered the Peoples State Bank in Lawton. While one man pointed a firearm at the bank president and ordered him to open the bank vault, the other pointed a firearm at the teller and took the cash from the teller drawers. The men used pillow cases to carry the cash from bank and used the stolen Pontiac Grand Am as their get-away vehicle. They abandoned the stolen car approximately two blocks from the bank and changed vehicles.

Evidence further established that on May 20, 2008, Taylor was stopped in Houston, Texas, in a routine traffic stop by the Houston Police Department. When Taylor failed to produce any drivers license, vehicle registration, insurance verification or rental agreement, he was arrested. As part of a routine inventory of the contents of the vehicle, Houston Police Officers located a .38 Special revolver and a pillow case filled with bundles of cash which were stamped “Peoples State Bank, Lawton, Oklahoma.” The Houston Police contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which worked with the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Lawton Police Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma City to obtain an indictment of Taylor in federal court in August of 2008. The total amount of cash recovered by law enforcement from Taylor’s car and apartment totaled $20,211.00.

Taylor’s accomplice remains at large.

At the sentencing hearing today, Judge Friot ordered that Taylor serve 97 months in prison for the carjacking and bank robbery offenses. In addition, Judge Friot ordered that Taylor serve 84 months consecutive to the 97 months for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Judge Friot also ordered that Taylor pay restitution in the amount of $78,706.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Lawton Police Department, and the Houston Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lee Borden and Chris Stephens.