A 91-year-old man walked out of a Daytona Beach bank on November 21, 2025, with $9,995 in cash, unaware that a woman inside had clocked his withdrawal and was already relaying the details to a waiting accomplice. Minutes later, that accomplice, Lorenzo Landers, pushed the elderly victim and grabbed his bag of cash outside a nearby home improvement store. This week, both Landers and his co-defendant, Erica Franklin, were sentenced for the robbery in Volusia County Circuit Court.
According to the State Attorney, Florida's 7th Circuit, Franklin was inside the bank cashing a check when she spotted the 91-year-old man withdrawing the cash and told Landers about the large transaction. The pair then waited for the victim to leave before following him in their vehicle to a home improvement store. Once there, Landers and Franklin approached the man and asked for a jump to get his vehicle moving, but he refused, per the same account.
That's when Landers pushed the victim and grabbed the bag containing his cash, and the two drove off together, the state attorney's post states. The Daytona Beach Police Department investigated the case, which occurred in Volusia County.
Pleas and Sentences Reflect Different Roles
Landers entered a no-contest plea to Robbery and Burglary with an Assault or Battery, while Franklin pleaded no contest to Robbery and Burglary of a Conveyance. Assistant State Attorney Paiton Mizelle prosecuted the case for the State of Florida, and Circuit Judge Kathryn Weston heard the case and imposed sentence. Weston sentenced Landers to 12 years in prison and Franklin to seven years.
The gap in sentencing tracks directly with Florida's statutory framework for these offenses. Burglary with an Assault or Battery is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison under Florida Statute 810.02(2)(a), since Landers was the one who made physical contact with the victim. Franklin's charge of burglary of a conveyance without an assault enhancement is generally a lesser felony, according to legal guidance published by the Sammis Law Firm, which explains that such offenses typically carry a maximum of five to 15 years depending on whether the vehicle was occupied.
A Documented History Between the Two
Landers and Franklin were not strangers to each other or to police before the Daytona Beach robbery. In July 2025, Hagerstown Police in Maryland arrested the pair together during a narcotics operation, according to the Franklin County Free Press. Landers, then 50, was charged with possession with intent to distribute roughly 37 grams of cocaine while armed with a handgun, while Franklin, then 44, was booked on an active warrant and a cocaine possession charge.
How Bank Jugging Schemes Work
The Daytona Beach case fits a pattern law enforcement calls bank jugging, in which perpetrators loiter near financial institutions to identify customers making large cash withdrawals, then follow them to a secondary location to steal from them, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The 91-year-old victim's $9,995 withdrawal fell just $5 below the federal $10,000 cash reporting threshold, making it the kind of sizable, visible transaction that draws attention inside a bank.
Central Florida agencies have flagged the tactic as a growing problem in the region. A months-long Orlando Police investigation uncovered more than $100,000 in regional victim losses tied to suspects trailing bank patrons to nearby retail parking lots, as reported by FOX 35 Orlando. Elderly residents withdrawing large sums are frequent targets of these schemes.
Part of a Busy Docket for Prosecutors and the Court
Assistant State Attorney Paiton Mizelle has handled other high-profile Volusia County violent felony cases this year, including co-prosecuting a case that resulted in a 30-year sentence for attempted kidnapping in Daytona Beach in July 2026. Judge Kathryn Weston, who sentenced both Landers and Franklin, has presided over a string of major felony cases in 2026, including a 42-year sentence handed down in a toddler fatality case last month and a mandatory life sentence set in April 2026 for an inmate who ambushed a correctional officer.
State prosecutors in Florida's 7th Judicial Circuit have also pursued other financial and property crime cases in Volusia County recently, including a 20-year sentence secured earlier this month against a repeat offender who used auto dealership banking details in a counterfeit check scheme. In a separate bank-related robbery case, defendant Lee Kennedy received a mandatory life sentence after a jury convicted him of Robbery with a Firearm for snatching a woman's purse outside a bank on International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach, according to the State Attorney's Office, illustrating how weapon enhancements and repeat-offender statutes can push sentences in the county far higher than the terms Landers and Franklin received.
It remains unclear whether any of the $9,995 in stolen cash was recovered by Daytona Beach police, or whether the bank involved has since adjusted its customer privacy practices following the robbery. Volusia County has seen a string of other serious robbery cases in recent months, including the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old during a suspected robbery in Deltona around Christmas 2025 and a June 2026 arrest tied to outstanding robbery and assault warrants in the county.
