FBI solves string of bank robberies from 2016

ROME, Ga. - Garrett Storm Hickey has been sentenced for a string of unarmed bank robberies in north Georgia and Alabama, which had gone unsolved for three years.

“Diligence by the FBI and our law enforcement partners helped solve these cold case bank robberies,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “This is also an example of the exemplary cooperation by law enforcement across multiple districts to give closure to the victims and employees of the banks involved while bringing this robber to justice.”

“If not for the determination of the FBI and our state and local partners, Hickey would be close to being released from federal prison on a single bank robbery conviction,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “But because of that collaborative effort, three bank robbery cases in Georgia and Alabama that were virtually closed, were re-opened and connected to Hickey. Our partnerships are integral to our mission of protecting the citizens of this country.”    

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: On July 6, 2015, Garrett Storm Hickey robbed a bank in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, using a threatening note that demanded money.  Using a very similar note and always asking for $1,400, he then robbed three more banks.

On April 19, 2016, he robbed a bank in Ringgold, Georgia, and shortly after, on May 4, 2016, he robbed a bank in Priceville, Alabama.  Hickey’s last known robbery was on July 20, 2016, at a bank in Athens, Alabama.

In 2017, Hickey was sentenced to just over three years in federal prison after a fingerprint linked him to the Murfreesboro robbery.   Later, while still serving his initial sentence, a fingerprint identification by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation lab connected him with the Ringgold robbery.  In addition, other evidence, including photos from the bank cameras, linked him to the two Alabama robberies.

In 2019, Hickey was indicted in the Northern District of Georgia, and with the cooperation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, and local district attorneys in the three local venues, he was prosecuted for the one Georgia robbery and two Alabama robberies here and pleaded guilty October 2019.

Garrett Storm Hickey, 29, of Centre, Alabama, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen to five years, four months in prison, with credit for time served, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,200.  Hickey was convicted on these charges on October 15, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Atlanta-Dalton office, Birmingham-Huntsville office, and Memphis-Murfreesboro office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation - Region 1, the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Ringgold Police Department, both in Georgia, as well as the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office, the Athens Police Department, and the Priceville Police Department, all in Alabama.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine M. Hoffer prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.