A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court for robbing a bank within a month of being released from federal prison for another bank robbery.
Charles Edgar King Jr., 58, Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to five years and 11 months in federal prison without parole.
On May 31, 2022, King pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery. King admitted that he used a note to steal $8,815 from Guaranty Bank, 2109 N. Glenstone Ave., in Springfield, on July 10, 2021. King entered the bank at about 10:30 a.m. and went straight to a teller counter, where he handed the teller a handwritten note that read, “I have a gun this is a robbery.” The teller handed over cash and King left the bank and walked away through a parking lot.
Surveillance cameras in the bank captured good quality video, which show King, who was not wearing a mask, and images of his bare hands that show a tattoo of a cross on the back of his right middle finger. On the same day as the robbery, July 10, 2021, the FBI released one of the surveillance images to the media and requested assistance from the public in identifying the bank robber. King’s former probation officer saw the media coverage and contacted the FBI the same day and identified King.
King had been released from federal prison 30 days before robbing Guaranty Bank. King was convicted of robbing Citizen’s Bank in Rogersville, Mo., in 2012 and sentenced to seven years in federal prison without parole. He served an additional 14 months for repeatedly violating the terms of his supervised release following incarceration, according to court documents, for a total prison term of nine years and two months. King, who was released with no further supervision, had been out of custody for 30 days when he committed the Guaranty Bank robbery.
On July 19, 2021, an anonymous source contacted law enforcement with a tip that King was staying at the Springfield Inn near Kearney and North Glenstone in Springfield. Springfield police detectives and FBI agents conducted surveillance on the hotel and saw King leave the hotel driving a purple Scion Cube with no license plate. Springfield police officers conducted a car stop and detained King on an investigative arrest for robbery.
King told an FBI agent that he used the stolen money to buy the used Scion Cube for $2,400 and that he gave some of the money away and spent the rest.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.
