BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Birmingham man to 11 ½ years in prison for a 2008 armed bank robbery, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, ATF Special Agent in Charge Glenn Anderson and FBI Special Agent in Charge Pat Maley.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced ELDRES DRAY DOWDELL, 32, on charges of armed bank robbery and using a .380 caliber pistol during the robbery of a Regions Bank on Warrior Road in December 2008. The judge ordered Dowdell to complete four years of supervised release after completing his prison term.

Dowdell robbed the bank of about $27,077. Birmingham Police found Dowdell hiding in a vacant house near the bank shortly after the robbery and recovered the money and a handgun taken from a security guard at the bank, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.

“This defendant used a gun to threaten the lives of two bank employees and a security officer and carry out his robbery of the Regions Bank branch,” Vance said. “Prison is the deserved punishment for this violent crime and Mr. Dowdell’s disregard for the lives of others.”

“I applaud the sentence handed down to Mr. Dowdell today, given the disregard for human life displayed during the commission of his crime,” Maley said.

“A violent crime like armed robbery will always be a high priority for the agencies that worked this case. It takes only a matter of seconds for the risky, bad choice of committing the bank robbery to turn tragic. Fortunately, no police officers, bank employees or anyone else nearby was injured or killed,” Anderson said. “Dowdell will have plenty of time to think about his choices, as do other offenders already serving hard sentences in federal prison.”

The FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Birmingham Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Montminy prosecuted the case.

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