Florida ‘serial bank robber’ hits series of banks in single day after prison release for same crime: DOJ

A Florida man, that authorities have dubbed a “serial bank robber,” is headed back to the slammer after he committed the same crime just one day after he was released from prison.

According to the Department of Justice, 60-year-old Timothy Jones is heading to prison, again, after he robbed two banks in the Orlando, Florida-area within days of being released from prison.

According to court documents, on June 1, 2022, Jones was released from Putnam County Correctional Facility after he served an eight-year prison sentence for robbing a Wells Fargo bank in Orlando.

The next day, old habits tempted Jones to return to a bank and continue his heist.

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Authorities said that Jones, on June 2, 2022, walked into a Truist Bank on the same street as the bank he previously robbed and held up a bank employee.

The 60-year-old Florida man allegedly threatened the employee and said that he had a gun and would shoot everyone in the bank if they did not hand over $150,000.

He warned the Truist Bank employees that there would be a “bloodbath” if they failed to comply with his demands.

After employees provided $30,000, Jones took the keys to an employee’s car and escaped, the DOJ said.

Jone’s robbery spree was not over, authorities said.

On June 9, 2022, Jones walked into a SouthState bank in Kissimmee, Florida, and threatened the employees that he was robbing the bank and had a gun.

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He then told the employee he did not want any “funny business” and demanded $50,000 that they gave him. 

He took one of the employee’s car keys and escaped.

Later on June 9, Jones was apprehended by local police.

Authorities found $1,815 in cash on Jones’ person and $47,200 in the stolen vehicle.

After being detained, Jones claimed to be mentally incompetent and claimed he was unable to stand trial.

About a year later, in May 2023, Jones wrote a letter to a relative where he said that he was pretending to be incompetent in order to “manipulate,” “trick,” and “fool” doctors and the court system, so he could get leniency in his sentencing. 

Jones was sentenced to 25 years in prison on one count of bank robbery and must forfeit $30,000 of unrecovered proceeds from his robberies. 

He was previously convicted of robbery charges in 1995, 2006, and 2013 and spent the last 18 years in prison for his crimes.