Serial bank robber faces 40 years in prison

An Orlando resident pleaded guilty last week to robbing two banks in the Central Florida area in a span of four days – a charge that could mean decades behind bars.

Keith Earle Young was arrested back in August for robbing a Bank of America in Winter Park and a SunTrust location in Orlando, presenting a note both times to the teller demanding money before walking away with the stolen cash.

Young, arrested on Aug. 28 at an Orlando hotel, has pleaded guilty to both robberies, United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley III announced last Monday.

A subtle, silent approach to bank robbery is the norm today, said Sgt. John Bologna of the Winter Park Police Department.

“That’s the trend that we’ve been seeing now; it’s no longer where they go in guns blazing,” Sgt. Bologna said back in July following a similar robbery. “What we’ve seen, even throughout Orange County and other areas, is they’re very subdued. They go in, they don’t look up, they keep their head down … they don’t want to bring attention to themselves.”

Young was in possession of $1,425 in stolen cash, and investigators recovered clothing Young had worn during one of the robberies as well, seen in the bank’s camera footage.

The 57-year-old resident has a history in the bank robbing business. He was previously arrested in connection with a string of three robberies back in October 2005. He was found guilty of at least one of the robberies and sentenced to prison time in January 2007.

He was released in June of 2013.

But bank robberies within Winter Park have been few and far between. A TD Bank location was robbed just a month before Young’s heist, but before then Winter Park had only seen two bank robberies since April 2011.

Records kept by the FBI show that there were 5,015 bank robberies in the U.S. in 2011, through that number indicates a declining trend. The FBI recorded 5,546 bank robberies in 2010.

Young faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison.

A sentencing date has yet to be set.