The United States Attorney's Office

Western District of Michigan

Press Release

Contact:
ELISA CASTROLUGO
ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
PHONE: (616) 456-2404

KALAMAZOO BANK ROBBER SENTENCED TO 28 YEARS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2008- GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Eddie Jerome Mills, 28, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was sentenced yesterday to 28 years in prison for robbing four Kalamazoo federally-insured financial institutions and a federally-insured bank in Lafayette, Indiana, U.S. Attorney Charles R. Gross announced today.

Mills pled guilty on September 20, 2007, to five counts of armed bank/credit union robbery: the December 2, 2005 armed robbery of the Comerica Bank in Kalamazoo; the December 27, 2005 armed robbery of the Keystone Community Bank also in Kalamazoo; the February 2, 2006 armed robbery of the Allegis Credit Union in Kalamazoo; the February 17, 2006 armed robbery of the Sand Ridge Bank in Lafayette, Indiana; and the March 17, 2006 armed robbery of the Grand Valley Co-op Credit Union in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Mills also pled guilty to one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

On December 2, 2005, Mills and his co-defendant, Marvin Eugene Harris, Jr., wearing dark sweatshirts, dark knit hats, bandannas and gloves, entered the Comerica Bank, located at 5080 West Main Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan, vaulted the teller counter and demanded money from the tellers. Co-defendant Harris carried a handgun, which he pointed at the assistant manager. Mills and Harris took approximately $18,756 from the tellers before fleeing the bank in a vehicle stolen prior to the robbery.

Weeks later, on December 27, 2005, Mills and another accomplice, co-defendant Jermone Anthony Barnes, wearing black hoodies, bandannas and gloves, entered the Keystone Community Bank, located at 235 North Drake Road, Kalamazoo, Michigan, vaulted the teller counter and demanded money from the tellers. Mills carried a handgun, which he pointed at the tellers while demanding money. Mills and Barnes took approximately $9,999 from the tellers before fleeing the bank in a vehicle stolen prior to the robbery.

On February 2, 2006, Mills and his co-defendants, Jermone Anthony Barnes and Deandre L. Smith, wearing black clothing, ski masks, knit caps and gloves, entered the Allegis Credit Union, located at 5713 Venture Park Drive in Kalamazoo, vaulted the teller counter and demanded money from the tellers. Mills carried a .45 caliber handgun, which he pointed at the tellers and the manager. Mills, Smith and Barnes took approximately $32,763.00 from the tellers before fleeing the credit union in a vehicle stolen prior to the robbery.

Fifteen days later, on February 17, 2006, Mills and his co-defendant, Marvin Eugene Harris, Jr., wearing ski masks and dark clothing, entered the Sand Ridge Bank, located at 1600 Sagamore Parkway, Lafayette, Indiana, and vaulted the teller counter. Mills carried a handgun, which he brandished during the robbery. Mills and Harris took approximately $44,010 from tellers at the bank before fleeing in a vehicle.

On March 17, 2006, Mills and his co-defendant, Rodney Shamon Allen, wearing ski masks and gloves, entered the Grand Valley Co-op Credit Union, located at 4245 South Westnedge Avenue in Kalamazoo, vaulted the teller counter and demanded money from the tellers. Mills carried a revolver, which he pointed at a teller and a customer. Mills and Allen took approximately $102,149.00 from the tellers before fleeing the credit union in a vehicle stolen prior to the robbery.

All of the financial institutions were federally-insured at the time of the robberies.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department (KCSD), along with the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS), began a joint investigation of the Kalamazoo robberies, due to their similarities and “take-over style” and based on bank surveillance photos, information provided by the tellers, and reports of stolen vehicles from areas near the targeted financial institutions in Kalamazoo.

In April 2006, KDPS located one of the stolen vehicles used in one of the bank robberies in an apartment complex in Kalamazoo. During a canvass of the neighborhood, a tenant of the apartment complex led officers to the vehicle of Eddie Mills, who was a convicted felon and a parolee at the time. Mills later confessed to robbing a total of five financial institutions in Michigan and Indiana.

On January 11, 2007, a federal grand jury returned an eight-count Indictment charging Mills and his co-defendants with armed bank/credit union robberies, and other related charges. Mills, who had already been charged in the Northern District of Indiana for the armed robbery of the Sand Ridge Bank, was serving a state sentence on unrelated charges. The Indiana federal case against Mills was subsequently transferred to Michigan pursuant to a plea agreement. Co-defendant Harris has pleaded guilty in the Western District of Michigan to two counts of armed bank robbery and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 7, 2008. Co-defendant Barnes has pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Indiana to two counts of armed bank robbery, including the robbery of the Allegis Credit Union in Kalamazoo, and is awaiting sentencing. Co-defendant Smith was sentenced to 63 months in prison for the armed robbery of the Allegis Credit Union and co-defendant Allen was sentenced to 76 months in prison for the armed robbery of the Grand Valley Co-op Credit Union.

In addition to 28 years in prison, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney ordered Mills to serve five years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $216,166.63 and $600 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Gross commended the FBI, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety for their work in the case. This case was prosecuted on behalf of the United States of America by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa Castrolugo.