Austin Man Gets 40-Year Sentence For 'Bank Jugging'

AUSTIN, TX — A Travis County jury this week convicted a man of aggravated robbery in connection to a series of "bank jugging" robberies that involves essentially stalking bank customers carrying cash in order to rob them.

The jury convicted Devin Anderson after hearing evidence of his culpability in the crime that involves watching people walking out of financial institutions carrying bank bags or envelopes containing money before they are burglarized or robbed.

According to prosecutors, on April 20, 2018, Anderson followed his victim from a bank at Capital Plaza to the restaurant she manages at the Linc shopping center on North Interstate 35. After parking her car at work, the woman says Anderson approached her with a handgun and demanded she give him the bank bag containing more than $800.

At the trial, the state presented evidence that Anderson was on an ankle monitor at the time of the robbery. GPS data placed him at Chase Bank and near the location of the robbery, at the time of the crime, according to a press advisory. What's more, prosecutors added, surveillance video showed Anderson’s car at the location of the robbery, at the time of the crime. Moreover, about two hours after the robbery, Anderson posted on Facebook and implicated himself in the offense.

After Anderson was found guilty by a Travis County jury, he agreed to a 20-year prison sentence. He also pleaded guilty to a similar aggravated robbery in April of last year and accepted a concurrent 20-year sentence on that case. As a condition of the agreed sentences, Anderson waived his right to appeal, prosecutors noted. The case was tried by assistant district attorneys Joshua Somers and Laurie Drymalla.

“We are happy to see that this man was held responsible for his conduct and hope that his sentence serves a warning to others who engage in this sort of criminal activity,” Somers said after Anderson’s conviction.

Bank jugging is seeing a resurgence as a crime trend and customers need to be aware of their surroundings when exiting banks, prosecutors advised.