Edmanuel Victoria, 29, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of armed bank robbery, one count of carjacking, and two counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, officials say.
On a March day in 2023, Edmanuel Victoria walked into a PNC Bank in Hollywood and handed a note to the bank teller that read “Give money gun.”
Then, prosecutors say, he lifted his shirt to show the teller the black pistol tucked into his waistband.
Victoria, 29, fled with over $2,000 that day, and wouldn’t face charges until four months later, in June, when deputies arrested him following a second bank robbery that didn’t go quite as planned.
On Jan. 10, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of armed bank robbery, one count of carjacking, and two counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to a media release from the U.S State Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Victoria is also wanted in Puerto Rico after authorities say he rigged casino machines and stole tens of thousands of dollars in winnings.
The string of South Florida crimes began six months ago on March 29, with the PNC Bank in the 1800 block of Tyler Street in Hollywood, according to the indictment. After Victoria showed the bank teller his gun, the teller gave him approximately $2,650 in cash.
Then, on June 5, Victoria held the driver of a Black Nissan Altima at gunpoint while the car was parked and stole it from him, according to the release.
Two days later, around 10 a.m., Victoria headed to the Bank of America in the 18000 block of Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines, according to the complaint. Wearing a motorcycle helmet, he approached an armored truck driver for the private security company GardaWorld as he was walking towards the bank with a black bag. Then he pointed a gun at him, demanding the bag.
As Victoria ran away with the bag, a magazine from his gun falling to the ground, the truck driver chased him, shooting at him approximately six times as he fled in the stolen Nissan Altima. The bullets did not hit Victoria but they did hit the car.
The stolen bag turned out to have no money in it, according to the complaint, but Victoria was charged with another count of armed bank robbery.
He was arrested later in the day, and confessed to stealing the car and robbing the truck driver.
A month before his arrest, Victoria was named a wanted fugitive in Puerto Rico after officials said he made tens of thousands of dollars rigging casino machines across the island, including an electronic roulette wheel at the Tropical Casino in Bayamón, where he left with over $43,000 in winnings. In another similar scheme at a San Juan hotel, he made away with over $19,000.
The U.S did not order Victoria to forfeit anything or pay restitution in his federal case, court records show. It remains unclear what came of the money he stole in Puerto Rico.
