Oct. 1, 2002 – A soft-spoken man believed to be responsible for a Jan. 31 bank robbery on St. Croix, along with multiple heists in Florida, was formally charged with the V.I. crime on Tuesday.
Shawn Bass, 30, is in jail in Florida, accused of a string of bank jobs there and awaiting trial on the charges. On Tuesday he was further charged with robbing the Bank of St. Croix in Gallows Bay of $7,001, U.S. Attorney David Nissman said in a release.
An FBI investigation linked Bass to the V.I. bank robbery. Judy Orihuela, public relations officer for the FBI in Miami, said authorities believe Bass went on a crime spree late last year that involved nearly 10 banks.
"Apparently he was involved in a string of bank robberies that began around last Thanksgiving," Orihuela said. Then, she charged, "he went to St. Croix, robbed that bank, then he went to Venezuela and was deported to Miami. He came back, robbed a couple more banks in April or May, and then he was caught."
Florida police also consider Bass a suspect in a series of convenience store robberies in the state, she said.
Police Chief Novelle Francis said Bass also is believed to have been involved in the attempted robberies of other St. Croix banks. And, Francis said, he apparently traveled to St. Thomas to size up some banks last December and January.
In all of the Florida bank robberies, authorities said the perpetrator acted alone and never did anything more than pass a note or say a few words to his intended victims. "He never used a gun," Orihuela said Tuesday.
In the case of the Bank of St. Croix, Francis said, a lone male entered the bank, slipped the teller a note instructing her to put all the money in a bag and warning that he had a gun. "They put some bait money in a bag. The guy left. He was never caught," Francis said.
V.I. authorities say it may be a long time before Bass appears in court in the territory to face the charges announced Tuesday. Since Florida charged him first, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Mabe said, if he were to be convicted on any of those charges, he would serve the resulting sentence there.
"The normal process would be that he will finish dealing with these charges in Florida before dealing with the charges back here," Mabe said.
The federal bank robbery charge announced Tuesday carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, Nissman's release stated.
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