ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando felon with a long criminal history recently told a federal judge he robbed banks to feed a crack-cocaine addiction that began when he was 12.
- Robert Ray, 47, sentenced to 10 years in prison
- Ray robbed 3 banks in Central Florida
- FBI, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office investigated
U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp sentenced 47-year-old Robert Ray on Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison for three bank robberies and one attempted bank robbery. Sharp recommended mental health and drug treatment for Ray.
He will be supervised for three years after leaving prison under Sharp’s order. He also has to repay the $7,200 he stole from the banks.
Ray pleaded guilty April 9. He could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $250,000, a court document says.
Ray didn’t use a gun while robbing banks.
In a hand-written letter to Sharp, Ray said he grew up poor, and two brothers who lived next door “talked me into smoking rock cocaine at twelve, and for a year (give or take) I would take my mother’s marijuana and exchange it to these brothers for rock cocaine. And as I grew older, my habit grew stronger.”
His youth spun out of control, and he dropped out of school and spent much of his life behind bars.
Ray learned tips from another inmate at the Orange County Jail about how to politely, calmly, and quickly rob banks. He expressed remorse, pledged to get sober and said he would never hurt anyone.
He spent three stints in state prison from 2001 to 2018, mostly for unarmed robberies. Shortly after his release from state prison on November 1, 2018, he owed thousands to drug dealers in Pine Hills for crack, Ray said.
Dealers threatened his family, including his younger sister, so he went on a bank-robbery spree in December to raise money for his drug debt. Those crimes included:
- Robbing a Citizens Bank on Red Bug Lake Road in Oviedo on December 14, 2018
- An attempted robbery at a Chase Bank on Deauville Drive in Orlando on December 17, 2018
- Robbing a Bank of America on North Maitland Boulevard in Maitland on December 17, 2018.
- Robbing a TD Bank on Ohio Avenue South in the small North Florida city of Live Oak on December 20, 2018.