84-Month Prison Sentence for Dayton Man Who Jumped Bank Counters, Used Pepper Spray to Steal Cash

DAYTON – Michael Stathas, 33, of Dayton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 84 months in prison for robbing two banks in Montgomery County in December 2016.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice.

Stathas pleaded guilty on April 3, 2017 to two counts of robbery. According to the Statement of Facts filed with his plea agreement, Stathas jumped the teller counter at a Fifth Third Bank in Kettering, Ohio on December 23, pepper-sprayed the teller and stole the teller’s station money. On December 29, Stathas vaulted a bank counter at Key Bank in Centerville, Ohio. Once on the other side of the counter, he stole cash from the teller’s station.

Stathas fled the second robbery in his vehicle. Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies and detectives in marked vehicles attempted to stop him, but rather than complying with their demands, he fled at a high rate of speed, ultimately crashing his car near Moraine, Ohio.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation of this case by the FBI, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Kettering Police Department, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Brent G. Tabacchi, who represented the United States in this case.