A man who robbed three Silver Spring banks by claiming to have a bomb was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison.
Morris Thweatt, 47, of Silver Spring, was sentenced to 80 months in prison and three years of supervised release in federal court after pleading guilty to the robberies in July. Thweatt was also ordered to pay restitution of $22,700, which FBI investigators said was the total amount he stole from the three banks.
In the first robbery, on June 10, 2014, Thweatt told a teller at the Capital One Bank off Prosperity Drive that he had an explosive device and stole $4,500. The FBI said the device was actually a canister with radio wire.
In the second robbery on July 2, 2014, Thweatt hit the Capital One Bank on Universtiy Boulevard and took $8,075 after saying he was going to light an explosive device he was carrying. In that robbery, the device was a plastic bag with an electrical wire wrapped in aluminum, according to the FBI.
In the third robbery on July 22, 2014, Thweatt took $10,198 from a Bank of America on Colesville Road after saying he was going to blow the place up with an explosive device, according to the FBI. Investigators did not provide a description of the device in the third robbery.
