Hogsett Announces More Success in Violent Crime Initiative

INDIANAPOLIS—Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced today that Michael G. Adkins, 43, Indianapolis, was sentenced to 134 months in prison by U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence following his guilty plea to armed bank robbery. The sentence imposed was at the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department.

On Saturday, September 5, 2009, at approximately 11:15 a.m., two males armed with handguns robbed the Huntington National Bank branch located at 6714 Rockville Road, Indianapolis. The robbers drove into the bank parking lot in a tan-colored four-door vehicle.

Bank security surveillance showed one robber, later confirmed to be Adkins, wearing a large black wig, a dark-colored hooded jacket, dark gray loose-fitting sweat pants, and white tennis shoes. The other robber wore markedly different clothing. Both entered the bank and Adkins brandished a firearm while ordering the bank tellers to cooperate. While the robbery was in progress, an adult female and her two children drove up to the bank and parked directly in front of the main doors. The woman and her children walked into the bank. The woman’s 11-year-old daughter entered the bank first. Adkins immediately pulled the child toward him, put his arm around her head, and held it in a headlock, with the handgun held to her head. He dragged her to the teller counter and ordered the bank tellers to hurry up. After the second robber grabbed the money from the bank’s vault area, he jumped back over the counter, and then Adkins released the child. Both men exited the bank.

During the bank robbery, a witness and a bank loan officer were both able to record the license plate number from the tan-colored vehicle, which had backed into a parking spot directly in front of the office window. A witness dialed 911 and relayed the information to a dispatcher from the Marion County Sheriff’s Department 911 Center. Police were able to locate the vehicle shortly after the bank robbery at an apartment complex not far from the bank. DNA testing of clothing found near the car proved it to be the same clothing Adkins was wearing as identified on bank surveillance tapes. Police were also able to identify Adkins’ through his cell phone activity going to and from the bank robbery. Beth Moench, the female who entered the bank with her children, is facing charges for aiding and abetting the bank robbery.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Lawrence also imposed full restitution in the amount of $42,259, and five years’ supervised release following Adkins’ release from prison.