Trial for Lewis Center bank bandit rescheduled

0

The trial for a Michigan man accused of robbing a Lewis Center bank in 2016 has been rescheduled for April in U.S. District Court.

Todd Raymond Keith, 41, of Ypsilanti, Michigan was indicted in U.S. District Court on Nov. 1, 2016 and charged with bank robbery, carjacking, and two counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to federal prosecutors, Keith was responsible for the robbery of the Delaware County Bank branch in Lewis Center on Oct. 7, 2016, along with a series of bank robberies in Michigan and elsewhere in Ohio.

Keith was arrested on Oct. 8, 2016 in Aberdeen, Ohio and originally charged in the Southern District Court of Ohio, but the case was transferred to the Eastern District of Michigan because Keith’s crime spree originated in Michigan.

Keith pleaded not guilty to the charges at an arraignment on Nov. 14, 2016 and was originally scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 3 2017. The trial has been delayed numerous times and has moved from January 2017 to April 2017, to July 2017, to October 2017, and then to Jan. 16, 2018.

However, the January trial was also delayed to April 16, 2018.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the FBI, Keith’s crime spree began on Sept. 30, 2016 in Van Buren Township, Michigan. According to the document, a home in the township was burglarized around 10 a.m. on that date and several items were stolen including two shotguns, one of which was equipped with a scope. Later that day, a man brandishing a shotgun with a scope entered a Chase Bank in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan and announced he was robbing the bank.

The FBI reports that he fired two shots in the bank and hit the wall behind a teller window and an office window. He demanded money from the teller and was given $1,700 by the employee before leaving the bank and driving away in a dark-colored sedan.

Then on Oct. 3, 2016, a man wearing a Halloween mask entered the Key Bank in Augusta Township, Michigan with a shotgun and announced he was robbing the bank. He threatened to kill employees if they resisted. The teller then removed the tracker from the money and the man left the bank with approximately $8,000 in cash. The suspect then drove away in a silver Dodge Journey.

On Oct. 7, 2016, deputies from the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office reported that Keith entered the DCB office located at 34 Evergreen Lane in Lewis Center, fired several shots and demanded money from the teller. No one was injured and Keith fled the scene in a dark sedan.

Keith is also a suspect in a pair of hotel robberies on Oct. 6, 2016 in Livonia, Michigan as well as an armed robbery in Tiffin on Oct. 7. Court documents state the indictment only covers the robbery committed on Oct. 3 and an armed carjacking on Oct. 6.

Keith is in federal detention awaiting his trial.

http://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2018/02/web1_keith-todd-1-1-.jpg

By Glenn Battishill

[email protected]

Contact Glenn Battishill at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

No posts to display