A Virginia Beach man pleaded guilty Monday to robbing three banks and one credit union in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
According to court documents, from October 2017 through April 2018, Rian Michael Lopez, 30, robbed a Wells Fargo bank (Lynnhaven Parkway, Virginia Beach) of $7,700, a Bank of America (Laskin Road, Virginia Beach) of $17,191, a BB&T bank (Lynnhaven Parkway, Virginia Beach) of $4,076, and a Bayport Federal Credit Union (Battlefield Boulevard North, Chesapeake) of $6,800.
At the last robbery the bank tellers placed bait money into the money they gave to Lopez, federal prosecutors said.
Sometime later a Virginia Beach police officer caught Lopez “casing another Wells Fargo bank for a potential robbery, and a search of his car and his home revealed clothing he had worn to the previous robberies and a large of amount of money that included the bait money from the Bayport Federal Credit Union robbery,” prosecutors said.
Lopez pleaded guilty to bank robbery and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 25.
