Convicted Bank Robber Sentenced to 11+ Years in Prison for Six Bucks County Robberies

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that Marshall Brooks, 54, was sentenced to 135 months’ imprisonment by Senior United States District Judge Jan E. Dubois for two armed bank robberies and four armed robberies of stores, all located in lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

In July 2019, the defendant pleaded guilty to all six counts charged in the Indictment, including two counts of armed bank robbery and four counts of robbery which interferes with interstate commerce. The charges were the result of the defendant using actual and threatened force, violence, and fear of injury to rob two banks in December 2018, and four businesses in December 2018 and February 2019, in Bensalem, Bristol, Trevose, and Feasterville. During his crime spree, he held a weapon directly against employees’ and customers’ bodies and held them hostage while he stole money and goods from the businesses. He committed this string of offenses just one month after being released from state prison after serving a 15-year sentence for yet another bank robbery.

“When Brooks was released from his 15-year prison sentence, he had a choice: he could become a law-abiding citizen or he could revert to his criminal ways,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “Unfortunately for the victims he terrorized during his crime spree, he took the latter path – the one that will lead him straight back to prison. The streets of lower Bucks County are far safer now that Brooks will be spending the next decade behind bars.”

“After serving out his prison time for a prior bank robbery, Marshall Brooks went right back to his old ways,” said Tara McMahon, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Imagine being physically manhandled by a stranger aiming a gun at you, demanding money. It isn’t something terrified armed robbery victims soon forget. Brooks is a clear danger to the public, and today’s sentence ensures he’ll remain behind bars for quite some time. The FBI’s BucksMont Safe Streets Task Force is committed to making our neighborhoods safer by diligently combating violent crime in our communities.”

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bensalem Police Department, Bristol Borough Police Department, and Lower Southampton Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Priya T. De Souza.