A series of bank heists that echoed through Memphis culminated in a federal jury convicting Mario Patterson, a Tennessee man, this past Friday for his involvement in three armed bank robberies and one attempted bank robbery that escalated into a shootout. According to a Department of Justice release, Patterson, along with his cohorts, was responsible for terrorizing bank staff and patrons and inflicting grave bodily harm.
The Department of Justice reports that Patterson, 45, joined a conspiracy with seven other individuals, committing a spree of bank robberies over the course of approximately eight months between April and December 2023. Notably, the group even hit the same bank branch twice, demonstrating a boldness that rattled the community. In one harrowing incident, Patterson discharged an assault rifle, wounding two individuals, and, in another, he donned a bulletproof vest, brandishing a rifle while his accomplices executed the theft.
Totaling over $160,000 stolen from various banks, the aggressive tactics adopted by the group sent waves of fear through Memphis. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made it clear in a statement released by the Department of Justice, “The series of bank robberies committed by these eight defendants terrorized bank employees and customers and threatened the lives of hardworking Americans.”
U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee expressed the gravity of the convictions, "These brazen and disturbing armed robberies of multiple Memphis banks by Patterson and his co-conspirators terrorized the community and inflicted fear and harm on multiple victims. Now they will have plenty of time in federal prison to suffer the consequences of their violent criminal conduct, and the citizens of Memphis will be safer for it." Patterson's own reckoning, his sentencing, is scheduled for April 24.
Some outcomes for the group have already unfolded. Late in 2025, three of Patterson’s co-defendants – Robert Haley, Devin Hinds, and Joshua Cribbs – faced justice, receiving prison sentences ranging from 12 to 17 years. The four additional co-defendants await their sentencing, which will finalize the case. This case is a feather in the cap for the FBI and the Memphis Police Department’s Safe Streets Task Force, underlining their focus on prosecuting violent crimes in Memphis and the surrounding areas.
