CINCINNATI — A judge sentenced a Batavia man to 25 years behind bars for two Ohio bank robberies, the district’s U.S. attorney announced Wednesday.
A jury had convicted Bruce Lee Felix, 52, in July of robbing a Cheviot Savings Bank on June 17, 2015. Court documents say a masked and armed Felix surprised a maintenance worker and entered the bank using a back door.
Felix “placed his gun to the maintenance man’s temple and demanded that he open the vault,” U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said in a news release. “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 fled with cash, authorities said.
Felix had also been convicted of robbing Cincinnatus Savings and Loan in Cheviot on Feb. 4, 2015, during which Felix jumped out from bushes to surprise two employees entering the bank.
“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,” DeVillers said in the release.
Felix was arrested exactly two years later on Feb. 4, 2017 in Batavia.
The jury found Felix guilty of one count of bank robbery, one count of armed bank robbery and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence. Judge Timothy Black sentenced Felix Tuesday.
