Baltimore Bank Robber Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison for Firearm and Armed Bank Robbery Charges

 Brandished a Gun in Two Armed Bank Robberies

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow today sentenced David Gollahon, age 59, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 13 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for the federal charges of armed bank robbery and brandishing of a firearm during a crime of violence.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; and Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD).

According the his plea agreement, on January 23, 2019 and February 1, 2019, David Gollahon and his co-defendant, Richard Tingler, committed two armed bank robberies in Baltimore, with co-defendant Richard Adams serving as the getaway driver in each robbery.  During each of the robberies, Gollahon and Tingler brandished firearms and threatened victim bank employees.  

Specifically, on January 23, 2019, Adams drove Gollahon and Tingler in a gray Hyundai Accent car that he had rented two weeks earlier, to a bank located in the 3600 block of Boston Street in Baltimore.  Gollahon carried a loaded black .380-caliber firearm and Tingler carried a loaded black .45-caliber firearm and both men wore ski masks to disguise their identities.  Tingler also carried a black leather duffel bag.

After entering the bank, Tingler approached the victim teller, pointed his firearm at her and demanded $100 dollar bills and “loose bills” from the bottom drawer of the till.  Meanwhile, Gollahon held the other bank employees and customers at gunpoint in the lobby area of the bank.  He told the bank employees and customers, “don’t move.”  Tingler took more than $7,000 in cash from the victim teller.  Tingler and Gollahon then ran away, accidentally dropping $5,584 in cash as they ran through a parking lot.  They then got into the waiting gray Hyundai Accent car driven by Adams, and drove away

On February 1, 2019, Adams drove Tingler and Gollahon in a 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo, which was registered to Adams, to a bank located in the 2900 block of O’Donnell Street in Baltimore.  Tingler and Gollahon each had the same firearm they had used in connection with the January 23, 2019 bank robbery, and their faces were covered.  After entering the bank, Tingler and Gollahon approached the teller window.  Tingler pointed his firearm at the teller and demanded $100 bills.  The victim teller handed over cash from the till, but Tingler continued to demand more money.  At the same time, Gollahon approached the teller line with his firearm pointed in the direction of the tellers and bank customers.  In response to the demands for more cash, the victim teller and a co-worker went to the bank’s vault and removed more cash, which they provided to Tingler and Gollahon, along with a GPS tracker, which was activated. 

Tingler and Gollahon then fled the bank and got into the 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo driven by Adams, who was waiting for them.  Adams drove the Monte Carlo away from the bank.  Law enforcement received GPS information concerning the location of the GPS tracker taken from the bank, which they relayed to Baltimore Police Department (BPD).

BPD officers stopped the vehicle and, when the vehicle was stopped, the GPS tracker became stationary.  Adams, Tingler, and Gollahon were ordered out of the vehicle and arrested.  At the time of his arrest, Gollahon had the same firearm he used during the robbery on his person.  All were transported to the BPD Citywide Robbery Office. 

Law enforcement searched Adams’ 2006 Monte Carlo car and located in the vehicles’ front floor board was a blue backpack containing the cash taken in the robbery, the GPS tracker, and the .45-caliber firearm carried by Tingler during both bank robberies. 

Later that day, law enforcement searched Adams’ residence in Essex, Maryland and seized Gollahon’s gray hooded sweatshirt and the black leather duffel bag carried by Tingler during the January 23, 2019 robbery. 

Richard Tingler, age 56, of Baltimore and Richard Adams, age 60, of Essex, Maryland both pleaded guilty to their roles in the bank robberies.  Adams was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison on November 12, 2020.  Tingler is expected to be sentenced to up to 18 years in federal prison as his sentencing on January 19, 2021, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Chasanow.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul A. Riley and Daniel A. Loveland, Jr., who are prosecuting the case.

Majestic Auto Repair Shop Owners Sentenced for Paying Police Officers Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Bribes

Auto Towing and Repair Shop Paid Police Officers to Steer Car Owners to Their Business Instead of Less-Expensive, City-Authorized Companies; in Some Cases, Repair Shop Vandalized Cars and Officers Falsified Police Reports to Increase Insurance Claims

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Hernan Alexis Moreno, age 32, of Rosedale, Maryland, today to 33 months in prison; and his brother, Edwin Javier Mejia, age 29, of Middle River, Maryland, to two years in prison for conspiring to commit extortion in connection with a scheme in which they paid over 50 police officers to arrange for their car repair company, Majestic, rather than a city-authorized company, to tow vehicles from accident scenes and make repairs. Judge Blake also ordered the brothers to pay restitution of $129,249.70 to the victim insurance companies.

The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Groh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Barksdale.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “We hope this case sent a clear message that police officers cannot take payments from private citizens in connection with their official duties.”

According to their plea agreements, beginning in 2008, the brothers agreed to pay Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers Jhonn Corona and Rodney Cintron to contact them from accident and hit-and-run scenes for towing and repair services instead of contacting a city-authorized tow company. In exchange, Mejia or Moreno would pay the officers $150 to $300 for each vehicle that arrived at Majestic. These two officers began to recruit other BPD officers to participate in the scheme.

Moreno and Mejia knew that the BPD requires that police only use towing companies that are under contract with the city of Baltimore to provide towing services for the BPD and that BPD officers could not accept payments for using their authority to steer vehicle owners to Majestic for tow and repair services.

According to their plea agreements, by February 23, 2011, more than 50 BPD officers had joined in the scheme. Specifically, while responding to the scene of an accident, BPD officers would call Moreno on his cell phone and provide him with the details of the accident. BPD officers would persuade accident victims to allow their cars to be towed or otherwise delivered to Majestic by telling the victims that Majestic could tow the car, provide repair services, help with the insurance claim, assist in getting a rental car and waive the owner’s deductible. In some cases the accident victims’ cars were towed even if the vehicle was not actually disabled. Later, the BPD officer arranged to meet Moreno or Mejia to receive cash for steering the car owner to Majestic.

Additionally, Moreno and Mejia arranged with some of the officers to add damage to the vehicles in order to increase Majestic’s profit from the insurance payment in order to cover the cost of paying the BPD officers and the vehicle owner’s deductible payments to the insurance company. The BPD officer would then falsify the accident report to make it appear that the damage had been caused by the accident so that the insurance adjusters would not question the repairs performed by Majestic and paid for by the insurance companies.

Over the course of the scheme, the amount of loss resulting from payments made by Majestic to BPD officers and for insurance claims paid by the insurance companies for damage inflicted on vehicles was between $200,000 and $400,00.

Jhonn Corona and Rodney Cintron, both age 34, and 12 other police officers have pleaded guilty to the extortion conspiracy in federal court and one officer pleaded guilty in state court. One officer was convicted by a federal jury after a six-day trial. All 15 officers have been sentenced, receiving between eight and 42 months in prison. Corona received 30 months in prison, and Cintron received 42 months.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Tonya N. Kelly and Kathleen O. Gavin, who prosecuted the case.

Barry Landau Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Stealing Valuable Historical Documents

New Evidence Reveals Broader Scope of Scheme, Which May Have Included More than 10,000 Stolen Items

BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Barry H. Landau, age 63, of New York, New York, today to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy and theft of historical documents from museums in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, and selling selected documents for profit. Judge Blake also ordered Landau to pay restitution totaling $46,525 to three dealers who unwittingly purchased stolen documents from Landau, and to forfeit all the documents recovered during the searches of his New York apartment.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, National Archives and Records Administration; Inspector General Paul Brachfeld of the National Archives and Records Administration—Office of Inspector General; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.

“The evidence proved that Barry H. Landau was a con artist who masqueraded as a presidential historian to gain people’s trust so he could steal their property,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “The revelation that Mr. Landau was a prolific thief sent a wake-up call to museums, libraries and other institutions that entrust valuable historical items to persons who claim to be engaged in academic research.”

U.S. Attorney Rosenstein added: “Purchasers who innocently buy stolen property do not gain lawful title and are required to return it to the rightful owner. Anyone who has information about historical documents obtained from Barry Landau should contact the National Achives Archival Recovery Team at 800-786-2551.”

“The success of this investigation is measured not just in bringing the guilty to justice but also in the return of numerous historical documents to the American people,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely. “What these documents stood for caused local and federal agencies to unite together to ensure that key pieces of our country’s history will remain forever accessible for our citizens.”

According to his plea agreement, from December 2010 through July 2011, Landau and his co-conspirator, Jason Savedoff stole valuable documents and manuscripts from numerous museums, including the Maryland Historical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut Historical Society, the University of Vermont, the New York Historical Society and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, a component of the National Archives.

At the sentencing, prosecutors introduced new evidence that Landau stole at least one item from the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum in Ohio in 2005; from 17 to 100 items from the Culinary Arts Museum in Rhode Island in 2008; and more than 250 items from Betty Currie, former White House Secretary, in 2010. Agents seized more than 10,000 items from Barry Landau’s residence in New York in July and August 2011, and more than 6,000 of those items have been identified as stolen property.

According to evidence presented at today’s sentencing hearing and court documents, Landau had been stealing presidential documents and ephemera to add to his collection for years before he met Savedoff and it was Landau who schooled Savedoff in the complex scheme of historical document theft. After researching collections on the Internet, Landau used e-mail to identify for Savedoff the titles and locations of collections that contained documents that were ultimately stolen during the course of the conspiracy. Landau developed protocols to distract curators while items were pilfered, scheduled visits to repositories and requested access to collections containing marketable documents. It was Landau who dealt exclusively with purchasers of stolen items.

According to his plea, Landau and Savedoff used various techniques to steal the documents, including concealing documents inside sports coats and other outerwear, which were designed by Landau, and had been modified to contain hidden pockets. Once a document had been stolen, steps were taken to remove any marking or inventory control notations made on the document. A checklist was prepared for each stolen document which identified the author and date of the document; the collection from which it was stolen; whether the museum card catalogue had been collected; whether there existed any microfilm or other “finding aid” for the document at the museum; the nature of any markings on the document; and whether any museum markings had been removed from the document. Landau and Savedoff often took the card catalogue entries and other “finding aids,” making it difficult for the museum to discover that an item was missing.

Specifically, according to his plea, Landau and Savedoff visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York on December 2, 2010, and stole, among other things, seven “reading copies” of speeches delivered by President Roosevelt. “Reading copies” are the actual copies of the speeches from which President Roosevelt read, and contain edits and handwritten additions made by him, and bear his signature. Four of these “reading copies” of speeches were sold by Landau on December 20, 2010 to a collector for $35,000. Three other “reading copies” of the inaugural addresses delivered by President Roosevelt, valued at more than $100,000 each, were recovered from Landau’s apartment in New York City during court-authorized searches, including the water-stained reading copy of the inaugural address delivered by President Roosevelt in a steady rain in 1937.

On March 17, 2011, Landau and Savedoff visited the New York Historical Society in New York City, and removed several valuable documents, all more than 100 years old and worth in excess of $5,000. One document was a letter dated April 1, 1780 from Benjamin Franklin, then in Versailles, France, to John Paul Jones in reference to the delivery of quantities of gunpowder from the French to the United States Navy. This letter is valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Other documents stolen by Landau and Savedoff from the New York Historical Society include letters and documents authored by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and President George Washington.

On July 9, 2011, Landau and Savedoff visited the Maryland Historical Society, where Landau had provided the curators with a list of collections he wished to review in advance, stating that he was performing research for a book. Landau also provided the list to curators when he arrived at the museum. Landau and Savedoff accessed the various document and manuscript collections. Curators became suspicious of the pair, and were concerned that documents were being stolen. The curators summoned the police, who discovered that 79 documents had been secreted inside a computer bag located in one of the museum lockers. Savedoff had the key to the locker. A review of the documents by curators revealed that 60 had been removed from the collections of the Maryland Historical Society, including a land grant dated June 1, 1861 to John Lorn, Private Captain, Hannberts Company, Maryland Militia, War of 1812, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, which has a value well in excess of $100,000. The remaining 19 documents contained markings which identified them as being from collections maintained at the Connecticut Historical Society and other institutions.

The 6,000 items seized from Landau’s apartment that have been identified as being stolen from libraries and repositories throughout the United States, including documents signed by George Washington, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, Marie Antoinette, Karl Marx, Sir Isaac Newton will be returned to the appropriate museum, repository or owner.

Jason James Savedoff, a/k/a “Jason James,” and “Justin Ward,” age 24, of New York, New York, previously pleaded guilty to the same charges. No date has been set for his sentencing.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI, Baltimore Police Department, National Archives and Records Administration—Office of Inspector General, and the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James G. Warwick and P. Michael Cunningham, who prosecuted the case.

Baltimore Armed Career Criminal Exiled to 15 Years in Prison for Illegal Possession of a Gun

Used the Gun in Connection with an Armed Robbery

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced John Steven Thomas, age 41, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a gun. Judge Blake found that Thomas is an armed career criminal based on two previous drug convictions and convictions for robbery and assault.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Marino F. Vidoli of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Baltimore Field Division; and Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to Thomas’ plea agreement, on May 12, 2011, two women waved down police detectives working in the 1400 block of N. Luzerne Avenue in Baltimore, advising the officers that they had been robbed and pointing out a man nearby, who was wearing blue pants and a red tee shirt, as the man who robbed them. The man, later identified as Thomas, ran away carrying a large blackpurse in his left hand and a dark colored handgun in his right hand. The detectives gave chase in their vehicle and on foot. During the chase Thomas dropped a wallet belonging to one of the women, then dropped the purse in the 1300 block of N. Lakewood Avenue and the gun in the frontyard of a home in that same block. Law enforcement recovered the gun, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

One of the detectives was assisting in a canvas of the area in a search for Thomas, when he was approached by a man, who told the detective that a man wearing a red t-shirt and blue pants entered the back door of his residence, ran through the house while taking off the red t-shirt, dropped the red shirt on his inside stairway, and then ran of the front door of the residence wearing a white tshirt. The detective relayed the update via police radio. Another detective was driving near a playground in the 2800 block of E. Hoffman Street, when he saw Thomas, wearing a white t-shirt and blue pants, push a child off of a bicycle and ride the bicycle east in the 2800 block of E. Hoffman Street a short distance before being apprehended.

One of the female victims identified Thomas as the man who robbed her. The victim advised the detectives that she and several other people were sitting on the front steps of a home in the 1300 block of N. Luzerne Avenue, when Thomas approached the group and asked them if anyone needed their car washed. When the victims told Thomas that they did not own a car, Thomas reached into his right hip waistband area and retrieved a dark colored semi-automatic pistol, pointed the gun at those seated there and stated, “Give me everything you got.” The victim stated that Thomas grabbed her purse from the front steps, entered the residence, quickly looking around, and then fled on foot before the female victims approached the detectives to report the crime.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the ATF and Baltimore Police Department for their work in this investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Michael C. Hanlon, who prosecuted the case.

Cruise Ship Employee Pleads Guilty to Sexual Abuse of a Minor

BALTIMORE—Fabian Palmer, age 25, a Jamaican national employed on a cruise ship, pleaded guilty today to sexual abuse of a minor while on board the ship.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Major Michael Kundrat, Senior Commander of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Major Michael Kundrat, Senior Commander of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police; and Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, III of the Baltimore City Police Department.

“There must be appropriate punishment for crimes committed aboard cruise ships,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “People who abuse United States citizens on the high seas are subject to prosecution under federal law.”

According to the plea agreement, Palmer was employed by Royal Caribbean Cruises Inc. and was assigned to the Enchantment of the Seas. His duties included maintaining the pool areas on the vessel, and in that capacity, he interacted with cruise passengers on a regular basis. The victim and her family boarded the vessel in Baltimore, Maryland on December 17, 2011 to begin a one-week cruise. During that week, Palmer befriended the victim and spoke with her often. They also exchanged handwritten notes. As the cruise neared its end, Palmer invited the victim to meet him late in the evening at the gymnasium and spa area of the vessel. He took the victim into the male locker room and then into the bathroom. There, Palmer and the victim engaged in a sexual act on the floor of the bathroom. The victim was 14 years old at the time, and this conduct occurred within the special maritime jurisdiction of the United States.

As part of his plea agreement, Palmer must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Palmer faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor. U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg has scheduled sentencing for June 29, 2012 at 9:30 a.m.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Maryland Transportation Authority Police, and Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. U.S. Attorney Rosenstein also recognized the Royal Caribbean security officers who brought this matter to the attention of law enforcement and assisted in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney James G. Warwick, who prosecuted the case.