A federal jury has convicted a Pennsylvania man of an Ohio County bank robbery, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.
Following a two-day trial, Frank L. Morrison, 58, of Braddock Hills, Pennsylvania, was found guilty of bank robbery on Wednesday.
On September 4, 2018, Morrison walked into United Bank in Elm Grove wearing a mask and demanded money from two tellers, obtaining more than $4,200 before fleeing. The jury viewed surveillance video which captured footage of the defendant disposing of his mask and other items into a nearby dumpster. Investigators recovered the material and obtained DNA evidence from the mask that matched with Morrison.
Morrison has a lengthy criminal history, including prior convictions for armed bank robbery, robbery, and access device fraud. He is presently serving an 87-month sentence due to federal firearms convictions in the Western District of Pennsylvania.
“Frank Morrison has made a living committing crimes throughout the region, but his criminal career is now over,” said U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld. “We will seek a sentence that will keep Mr. Morrison behind bars for the rest of his life so that he can no longer terrorize the public.”
Morrison faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the Wheeling bank robbery conviction, and the United States will seek to have that sentence run consecutively to the term he is currently serving, according to Ihlenfeld.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Clayton Reid and Carly Nogay prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.
Investigative agencies include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia State Police, and the Wheeling Police Department.
U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.
