Ohio Man to Spend More than a Decade in Prison for Violent Armed Bank Robbery

CLEVELAND – A Cleveland man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of robbing an ATM by terrorizing a service technician at gunpoint in broad daylight.

Joel Alonte Travis, 21, was sentenced to 144 months (12 years) in prison by U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent after a federal jury found him guilty in April of armed bank robbery and using and carrying a firearm during, and in relation to, a crime of violence. Travis was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $112,440 in restitution. Judge Nugent imposed the sentence Aug. 14.

According to court documents, on Oct. 16, 2024, just before noon, a technician was on official duty servicing a freestanding drive-thru ATM at a Chase Bank is South Euclid, Ohio, when two masked men jumped out of a Hyundai Sonata and ambushed him. One of the masked men grabbed the victim and pressed a gun to the back of his head. Under threat of violent force, the robbers then demanded that the tech remove the cassettes which contained cash to refill the ATM. In all, five cassettes with approximately $112,440 worth of cash were stolen by the perpetrators who then quickly fled the scene in the vehicle.

U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio

Officers conducting the investigation learned that Travis was on probation for an unrelated crime and was on electronic monitoring at the time of the offense. They were able link him to the time and place of the bank robbery using location data and other information. During a search warrant execution of the defendant’s apartment, three firearms were recovered, including a pistol that looked similar to the one seen on the bank’s surveillance video. Investigators also found photos of Travis depicting himself holding large sums of fanned out money which he posted on social media.

U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio

This case was investigated by the FBI Cleveland Division, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, Cleveland Heights Police Department, and South Euclid Police Department. 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle M. Baeppler and Kristen Rolph for the Northern District of Ohio.