Two Plead Guilty to Bank Robbery

HOUSTON—Two Houston men accused of robbing several area banks through the use of force and intimidation been convicted of bank robbery after pleading guilty, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

Terrance Posey, 27, and Artee Clark, 44, each pleaded guilty to bank robbery this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal. Both men were indicted in January 2011 by a Houston federal grand jury. Posey was charged with and today pleaded guilty to the robbery of the Bank of American located on the 3900 block of Richmond Ave. in Houston on Oct. 4, 2010. The same indictment charged Clark with the robbery of the same Bank of America branch as Posey and three additional banks—Chase Bank located on the 10400 block of Westheimer on Sept. 8, 2010; Bank of America located on the 7500 block of Fondren on Sept. 15, 2010; and Capital One Bank located on the 11400 block of Gulf Freeway on Sept. 28, 2010. Today, Clark pleaded guilty to robbing all four banks as charged.

The arrests of Clark and Posey are the result of an intensive robbery investigation conducted jointly by the FBI and Houston Police Department (HPD) Bank Robbery Task Force initiated in the early fall of 2010. The investigation uncovered a scheme where individuals where robbing banks in Southwest Houston by presenting threatening notes to bank tellers demanding money. Clark was apprehended after he was observed by a bank security guard exhibiting suspicious behavior as he was leaving the Chase Bank located on the 9700 block of Bellaire Blvd. in Houston. A bank teller thereafter told the security guard the bank had just been robbed. HPD apprehended Clark at the scene. Posey was subsequently arrested for his involvement as a lookout and getaway driver for this robbery. Eyewitness identifications and surveillance evidence connected Clark to the robbery of three additional banks. The crime spree resulted in more than $60,000 in losses to area banks.

In federal custody without bond since their arrest on the federal charges, Posey and Clark will remain in custody pending sentencing. Judge Rosenthal has set sentencing for both men for Sept. 28, 2011. Each faces a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years’ imprisonment without parole and a maximum fine of $250,000. A third defendant charged in this case, George Winters, 36, pleaded guilty on May 9, 2011, to the Sept. 8, 2010 robbery of the Chase Bank located on the 10400 block of Westheimer. He, too, remains in federal custody without bond pending his sentencing set for Sept. 8, 2011. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Suzanne Elmilady and Craig Feazel are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.