United States Attorney John C. Richter

Western District of Oklahoma

October 16, 2008

CONTACT: Bob Troester

405/553-8999

JURY CONVICTS MAN FOR OKLAHOMA CITY CARJACKING AND LAWTON BANK ROBBERY

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – LARRY COLLIER TAYLOR, JR., 25, formerly from Texas and Georgia, was convicted by a federal jury yesterday of carjacking, bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, announced John C. Richter, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. 

The evidence at trial showed that while a woman was unloading her children from a car seat in a Northwest Oklahoma City apartment complex parking lot on May 4, 2008, Taylor and another male approached the vehicle with a firearm and forcibly carjacked her 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. On May 7, 2008, Taylor and an accomplice entered the Peoples State Bank in Lawton.  While one man pointed a firearm at the bank president and ordered him to open the bank vault, the other pointed a firearm at the teller and took the cash from the teller drawers.  The men used pillow cases to carry the cash from bank and used the stolen Pontiac Grand Am as their get-away vehicle. They abandoned the stolen car approximately two blocks from the bank and changed vehicles.

Evidence further established that on May 20, 2008, Taylor was stopped in Houston, Texas, in a routine traffic stop by the Houston Police Department.  When Taylor failed to produce any drivers license, vehicle registration, insurance verification or rental agreement, he was arrested.  As part of a routine inventory of the contents of the vehicle, Houston Police Officers located a .38 Special revolver and a pillow case filled with bundles of cash which were stamped “Peoples State Bank, Lawton, Oklahoma.”  The Houston Police contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which worked with the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Lawton Police Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma City to obtain an indictment of Taylor in federal court in August of 2008. 

The trial lasted a little more than a day.  The jury deliberated for about 30 minutes before finding Taylor guilty on all counts. Taylor’s accomplice remains at large.
 
At sentencing, Taylor faces up to 25 years in prison for carjacking and bank robbery, plus an additional seven consecutive years in prison for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.  A sentencing hearing will be held in approximately 90 days.  

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Lawton Police Department, and the Houston Police Department.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lee Borden and Chris Stephens.