Philadelphia Man Sentenced to 6 ½ Years for Series of Greater Philadelphia Area Bank Robberies in 2019

 PHILADELPHIA – First Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Michael Edmondson, 53, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced to 78 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay more than $6,700 in restitution by United States District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg for robbing four banks in a spree across the Southeastern Pennsylvania counties of Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Philadelphia.

In September 2019, the defendant pleaded guilty to a four-count Indictment charging him with four counts of bank robbery. The charges arose from Edmondson’s early 2019 crime spree, targeting the Wells Fargo Bank in Trevose on February 19; the Citizens Bank in Havertown’s Giant Foods on February 24; the Wells Fargo Bank in King of Prussia on February 27; and the Santander Bank on Market Street in Philadelphia on March 6. The defendant stole a total of $7,958 from the four banks, committing the offenses shortly after absconding from a halfway house where he was living while on state parole. In all four cases, Edmondson threatened to shoot himself and other people if the bank employees did not hand him cash.

“The defendant, now in his fifties, has a decades-long history of run-ins with the law,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Williams. “The simple fact is that Edmondson is a danger to the community. He has proven that, when given the opportunity, he will revert to threatening the safety of others and himself. The streets of Philadelphia and the surrounding counties are safer with the defendant behind bars once again.”

“At each stop on Michael Edmondson’s bank robbery spree, he told tellers he had a gun and was about to start shooting,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Taking those who terrorize the community off the street is a priority for the FBI and our law enforcement partners, as we work together to crack down on violent crime and keep the public safe.”   

The case was investigated by the Bensalem Township Police Department, the Haverford Township Police Department, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Upper Merion Township Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Jayne.