BALTIMORE — A 35-year-old man has plead guilty to the armed robbery of a convenience store and an armed robbery of a bank.
According to his plea agreement, on November 26, 2018, shortly before 11 p.m., Fowlkes robbed a convenience store located in the area of 2700 West Franklin Street displaying what appeared to be a silver semiautomatic handgun, but was in fact an air gun.
Fowlkes ordered the store employees to open the cash register and give him the cash, which they did. Fowlkes then fled.
The next day, Fowlkes robbed a bank located in the area of 3600 Boston Street.
According to his plea agreement, shortly after the bank opened, Fowlkes entered the bank and asked to open an account. He proceeded to pulled out a yellow folder from a laundry bag, asked for a pen, and then wrote a note demanding money, which he passed to the employee.
The employee advised that there was no money in the customer service area. Fowlkes took the note back, stated that he had a gun, and drew what appeared to be a silver semiautomatic handgun—but that was in fact an air gun—from the laundry bag.
Fowlkes told the employee to get up slowly to which the victim complied and walked to the teller to get the money Fowlkes demanded.
While in the teller area, Fowlkes again displayed the silver air gun and demanded money, and also demanded one of the tellers’ car keys.
One employee handed over the keys to his car—a Hyundai Sonata—and another employee handed Fowlkes the cash from the teller drawers, which Fowlkes placed in the white mesh laundry bag. Fowlkes then escaped in the stolen Hyundai Sonata.
Fowlkes was arrested on November 29, 2018, after a Baltimore Police Officer determined that the tags on a Hyundai Sonata driven by Fowlkes had been stolen.
When he was pulled over he was wearing the same zip-up hoodie he had worn during the robberies and he had $2,021 in cash on him, which was stolen from the bank.
A subsequent search warrant executed at his home resulted in law enforcement recovering the white mesh laundry bag, yellow folder, and demand note used at the bank robbery, mail addressed to the owner of the Hyundai Sonata, which Fowlkes had taken from the stolen car, and the silver air gun used in connection with both robberies.
As part of his plea agreement, Fowlkes will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which is at least $7,250. If the Court accepts the plea agreement, Fowlkes will be sentenced to between 120 months and 235 months in federal prison.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 1.
