Culpeper Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Robberies, Carjacking
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – George Golder Phillips II, 33, of Culpeper, Va., pled guilty today to committing a series of armed robberies of financial institutions and businesses in Virginia, along with kidnapping a woman and using her car to travel from Virginia to Maryland.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General of Virginia; and James McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.
Phillips pled guilty today to bank robbery, kidnapping, and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 14, 2012.
According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, in 2008 through 2009, Phillips – often armed with a firearm – robbed more than $87,000 from six financial institutions and three businesses in Virginia. In addition, Phillips admitted that on Sept. 17, 2009, he approached a woman in Prince William County, Va., brandished a firearm, and forced her into her car. With the victim sitting blindfolded in the passenger seat, Phillips drove the car from Virginia and across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into Maryland, where he crashed the car into another car and fled on foot.
The investigation was conducted by FBI’s Washington Field Office jointly with the Virginia State Police; Fauquier County, Orange County, and Frederick County Sheriff’s Offices; and Prince William County and Front Royal Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Fahey and Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney Marc Birnbaum are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.
