United States Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña
Northern District of Texas

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

VIOLENT ARMED BANK ROBBER SENTENCED TO
MORE THAN 42 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

LUBBOCK, Texas — Graciano Pina Quezada, 35, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 510 months (42.5 years) in federal prison for committing the armed robbery of a Wells Fargo Bank in Lubbock, Texas, in February 2011, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Quezada, formerly of Albuquerque, New Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence on the morning of October 3, 2011, the day his trial was to begin in federal court in Lubbock.

According to documents filed in the case, at about 2:20 p.m., on February 21, 2011, Quezada, wearing a dark blue toboggan - with eye holes cut into it - covering his face, a dark jacket, gloves, and carrying a 9mm Ruger pistol, entered the Wells Fargo Bank at 4323 50th Street in Lubbock. As he entered the bank, he began shouting and pointing the firearm at bank personnel and customers. He approached the teller stations and demanded, at gunpoint, that they give him money. After gathering the money, Quezada ordered, at gunpoint, a customer to accompany him to the bank doors.

Quezada fled the bank in a Ford Mustang and within approximately two minutes, officers with the Lubbock Police Department, located the vehicle. Quezada led them on a high-speed chase for several minutes before the vehicle was stopped in Lynn County, Texas, by spike strips placed on the road by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper. Quezada fled, but was taken into custody just a short distance from his vehicle.

When the Ford Mustang was inventoried, law enforcement found the Ruger 9mm pistol, loaded with 13 rounds in the clip and a round in the chamber, the money taken from the bank, another firearm and garments Quezada wore during the robbery.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Lubbock Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Williams and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Haag of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, were in charge of the prosecution.

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