Serial Bank Robber Sentenced To 45 Years In Federal Prison

Quentin A. Sherer, 33, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in federal prison after having been found guilty by a jury of bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during that bank robbery, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.  McQuade was joined in the announcement by Robert D. Foley, III, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sherer and Martin L. Tucker, 33, were found guilty after a week-long trial before the Honorable Judge Robert H. Cleland in U.S. District Court in Detroit in December 2012.

The evidence presented during the trial showed that on July 16, 2009, Sherer and Tucker, armed with semi-automatic pistols, entered the Monroe County Community Credit Union in Temperance, Michigan, and ran to the teller counter.  Sherer pointed the gun at one teller and demanded money.  Tucker ran to another teller window, pushed a customer out of the way, pointed the gun at the customer and teller and demanded money.  Both Sherer and Tucker wore masks and hooded sweatshirts.  After taking money, both ran out of the credit union into an awaiting getaway car.  A customer at the drive through window followed the getaway car a couple miles away into Toledo, where the robbers abandoned the car in the driveway of a private residence.  When officers from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office responded to that residence, they retrieved several items of clothing that were worn during the robbery along the path where Sherer and Tucker had fled.  The FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia conducted a DNA examination of the evidence recovered in and around the getaway car and found matches between the DNA extracted from several pieces of the evidence and Sherer and Tucker’s DNA.

This conviction was Sherer’s third federal conviction for bank robbery and second federal conviction for using a firearm during a crime of violence. Sherer committed this bank robbery less than 8 months after being released from prison for his previous bank robbery convictions.

Sentencing of Tucker is scheduled for August 27, 2013.

“Criminals who use guns to commit violent crimes are not welcome in our community, and we hope that strong sentences like this one will deter these kinds of crimes,” McQuade said. 

FBI Special Agent in Charge Foley stated, “"Those who engage in violent crime and other illegal activity pose a serious threat to the safety of citizens. The FBI is committed to stopping these dangerous acts and protecting our communities."

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick Hurford and Frances Carlson.