GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. — A Greenwood Village man faces more than 100 years in prison after he was convicted of robbing four Denver metro banks in four months, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced Monday.
Greenwood Village police officers were dispatched to an armed robbery in progress at a Key Bank branch in the 9000 block of E. Arapahoe Road around 10:30 a.m. on December 1, 2022. The 911 caller, who was hiding in the bank bathroom, told dispatchers a man with a gun was robbing the bank employees.
The district attorney's office said an officer arrived and saw a man — later identified as Jonathan Martin Bell, 30 — in a camouflage jacket exiting the bank and running towards a nearby Target. The officer chased after Bell and was shot at, according to the DA's office. The officer was not injured and returned fire. Bell was not injured and ran into a nearby hotel.
Bell made off with roughly $66,000 in cash, the district attorney's office said. During the robbery, a GPS tracker was placed in the money back.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracked the GPS device to a hotel room on the third floor of the Extended Stay hotel on South Clinton Street. The hotel room was registered to Bell, the DA's office said.
After a several-hour standoff, Bell surrendered and was taken into custody without incident.
Investigators connected Bell to three previous bank robberies:
- September 1, 2022 - Commerce Bank in the 15000 block of East Colfax Avenue
- October 3, 2022 - UMB Bank in the 1600 block of East Colfax Avenue
- October 19, 2022 - US Bank in the 2400 block of South Parker Road.
Bell displayed a gun in each of the robberies. He stole roughly $85,000 in cash from all four banks, the district attorney's office said.
Following a 9-day trial, a jury convicted Bell of:
- 15 counts of aggravated robbery
- Three counts of kidnapping
- Nine counts of menacing
- Four counts of theft
- Reckless endangerment
- Attempted manslaughter
“Clearly this defendant has not learned his lesson,” District Attorney John Kellner said in a statement. “In 2016, my office prosecuted Mr. Bell for committing an armed robbery at a Payday loan center. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, yet he didn’t even serve half of his sentence before being released on parole. We need truth in sentencing reform to ensure dangerous criminals actually serve their sentences.”
Bell will be sentenced in 2024, the district attorney's office said. He faces more than 100 years in prison.
