A 34-year-old Memphis man will spend the next 15 years in federal prison for his role driving getaway cars during a bank robbery conspiracy that hit locations across the city in 2023. Courtney Trenell was convicted after an eight-day trial of driving the getaway car during two bank robberies carried out simultaneously to confuse police.
Trenell and his co-conspirators robbed Bank of Bartlett and First Hormon Bank at the same time on October 20, 2023, according to prosecutors cited by WZTV. The two banks sit across the street from each other in Memphis, and the crew hit them at the same time specifically to sow confusion among responding officers. Federal trial evidence presented in July 2025 showed that Trenell went a step further during that robbery, staging a secondary getaway car a mile away to help accomplices flee, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Trenell had joined a plan to target six banks across Memphis, the WZTV report notes. That broader conspiracy, according to the Justice Department, stole more than $170,000 in cash across five successful heists in 2023, while a sixth, unsuccessful attempt escalated into a shootout with an armed security guard that left two people shot.
A Dye Pack Turns the Cash Red
The same October 20 robbery that landed Trenell behind the wheel also produced one of the case's stranger evidentiary breaks. Co-defendant Joshua Cribbs stuffed cash into a trash bag during the heist but unknowingly grabbed a bank dye pack along with it, and the pack exploded after the getaway, staining the stolen money red, the Justice Department's account states. Cribbs, 33, was found guilty of joining the conspiracy and robbing banks, and was sentenced to 144 months in prison.
Federal indictments unsealed in June 2024 detailed that the conspiracy targeted six specific Memphis locations between April and December 2023, including two separate holdups of a First Horizon Bank branch on North Watkins Street, a Truist Bank on Poplar Avenue, and an Independent Bank on Union Avenue, per the Justice Department's filings. During the December 22, 2023 robbery of the Independent Bank branch, a co-conspirator pointed a semi-automatic military-style rifle at bank employees while co-defendant Devins Hinds drove the getaway vehicle. Hinds, 36, was found guilty of joining the conspiracy and robbing banks, was also convicted of firearm crimes, and was sentenced to 194 months in prison.
Eight Defendants, Wildly Different Sentences
Federal court records confirm eight men were indicted in the conspiracy in total, with organizers Robert Haley and Travis Drain accused of coordinating the robberies alongside co-defendants Marquarius Trenell and Monterrio Trenell. Haley, 45, pleaded guilty to the case and received 204 months in prison. Drain and Monterrio Trenell are both still waiting to be sentenced, per WZTV's reporting.
The starkest sentence in the case belongs to Mario Patterson, 45, who was found guilty in January 2026 of robbing three banks as part of the same plan. Patterson was sentenced to 579 months — more than 48 years — in federal prison following his trial conviction for leading three bank robberies, an attempted robbery, and multiple firearm offenses, the Justice Department announced in May 2026. The wide gap between Trenell's 15 years and Patterson's 48-year term traces back to federal statute 18 U.S.C. § 2113, under which basic bank robbery carries up to 20 years while armed robbery involving a dangerous weapon carries up to 25 years, with mandatory consecutive terms added under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) for anyone who brandished or fired a gun during the crimes, according to Hoodline's review of the law.
Task Force Calls Case Part of Broader Push
The multi-month investigation that led to the indictments was led by the FBI's Memphis and Nashville Field Offices in partnership with the Memphis Police Department's Safe Streets Task Force, the Justice Department said. Officials described the case as part of a larger effort to stop violent crime in Memphis, with local, state, and federal agencies teaming up to pursue violent offenders.
Trial evidence also showed the robbers held conference calls immediately before and after their heists to coordinate their movements, underscoring how organized the operation had become before it fell apart under investigation. Nationally, bank robbery remains one of the more consistently solved violent property crimes, with law enforcement agencies clearing roughly 60% of cases, according to federal crime statistics cited by Hoodline. In Memphis, at least, that clearance held true for all eight men swept up in this conspiracy.
