DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - A serial bank robber who yelled and screamed during his heists has been given fifteen years in prison.
Prosecutors say 42-year-old Dennis Edwards Stephen held up eight banks in and around San Antonio over the course of five years, making off with nearly half a million dollars.
His last holdup was a year ago.
Prosecutor Sarah Wannarka says he didn't carry a weapon., but tellers and customers were terrorized. "He would come in screaming and yelling. He would shove people aside and would demand money, screaming the whole entire time."
She says three victims testified they felt they were going to be killed. "One of the tellers that testified in court was pregnant at the time and thought of her child, and protecting her child was the only thing that was going through her mind.
Stephen was caught because the teller at the last robbery because a teller put a tracking device in the money bag. And Wannarka says the robberies are a hit to the financial system. "That money has to be reimbursed either through the bank absorbing the cost or through insurance. It's not a victimless crime. Citizens put their money in the trust of the banks and he stole the citizen's money.
She adds Stephen's day job was running a company that handled investments and that he said greed led him to rob banks.