LOS ANGELES – A Pasadena man was named today in a seven-count indictment that charges him with committing a series of bank robberies culminating in an armed robbery in which he allegedly used a loaded shotgun.

Shownee Shon Smith, 41, was charged robbing a Wells Fargo Bank branch in East Pasadena on June 10 while armed with a loaded shotgun.

The Pasadena Police Department responded to alarms and a 911 call from inside the Wells Fargo branch and arrested Smith immediately after he exited the bank.

The indictment alleges that Smith committed six bank robberies between May 15 and June 10. In addition to the Wells Fargo robbery, Smith is charged with robbing branches of US Bank in Burbank on May 15, Wells Fargo in South Pasadena on the same day, Chase Bank in East Pasadena on May 20, Chase in North Hollywood on May 27, and Citibank in Tarzana on the same day. Prior to the Wells Fargo robbery on June 10, Smith had allegedly used notes to demand money from bank employees.

Smith is additionally charged with brandishing a firearm during the June 10 robbery.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

Smith, who is being held in custody without bond, is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on July 5 in United States District Court.

The five bank robbery charges in the indictment carry a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, and the armed bank robbery count carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. If convicted of the count alleging brandishing of a firearm, Smith would face a mandatory seven-year sentence that would run consecutively to any other sentence imposed in the case.

The case against Smith is the result of an investigation by the FBI, which received substantial assistance from the Pasadena Police Department, the South Pasadena Police Department, the Burbank Police Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Santa Monica Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney A. Carley Palmer of the General Crimes Section.

Component(s): USAO – California, Central

Press Release Number: 17-129     Updated June 23, 2017

Central District of California DOJ / 17-129 / June 23, 2017