Jury Convicts Batavia Man of Two Bank Robberies

CINCINNATI – A U.S. District Court jury here convicted Bruce Lee Felix, 52, of Batavia of using a gun to rob the Cheviot Savings Bank and an earlier robbery of the Cincinnatus Savings and Loan.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Todd Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Colerain Township Police Chief Mark C. Denney, Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac, Harrison Police Chief Charles Lindsey and Michael S. Masterson, Director of Enforcement, Ohio Casino Control Commission announced the verdict returned today following a trial that began July 1 before U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black.

Court documents and trial testimony said that Felix, wearing a mask and brandishing a gun, surprised a maintenance man at the Cheviot Savings Bank, 1194 Stone Drive, Harrison, Ohio at approximately 8 a.m. on June 17, 2015 when the maintenance man was entering the back door of the bank. Felix placed his gun to the maintenance man’s temple and demanded that he open the vault. Once he realized only bank tellers could open the vault, he ordered the victim down on the floor of the break room, zip-tied his hands behind his back and his feet together, removed the victim’s boots and waited for the tellers to arrive. When the tellers arrived, Felix ordered them to open the vault and remove the money. He then fled the bank.

The jury also convicted Felix of robbing the Cincinnatus Savings and Loan, 3664 Springdale Road, on February 4, 2015 when he jumped out of the bushes as two employees were getting ready to enter the bank around 8 a.m. He forced them to open the vault and remove the money before ordering them to lie on the ground and tying their hands behind their back.

Felix was arrested on February 4, 2017 in Batavia.

The jury found Felix guilty of one count of armed bank robbery, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and one count of use of a firearm during a crime of violence, punishable by a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life due to a prior firearm conviction in 1996, for the Cheviot Savings Bank robbery. His conviction on one count of bank robbery for the Cincinnatus Savings and Loan is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by law enforcement and Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony Springer and Ebunoluwa Taiwo, who tried the case on behalf of the United States.