A 41-year-old New Orleans man has pleaded guilty to all counts in connection with a December 2023 armed robbery at a Canal Street bank that allegedly ended with him firing shots while trying to carjack people during his escape. Joseph Carcise now faces decades in federal prison when he's sentenced in January.
According to WGNO, Carcise walked into the Canal Street bank on Dec. 15, 2023, carrying a gun and allegedly demanded cash from a teller. The teller complied, and court documents cited by the station say Carcise fled the scene with $10,241 in hand.
The station reports that as Carcise made his getaway, he allegedly fired shots at individuals while trying to carjack them so he could escape. The FBI New Orleans Violent Crime Task Force investigated the incident, and Carcise was arrested and booked on armed bank robbery, two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and three counts of attempted carjacking, the outlet notes.
Conflicting Dates on the Guilty Plea
Exactly when Carcise entered his guilty plea is unclear. WGNO's report places the plea on Monday, while a U.S. Department of Justice search-result snippet states that Carcise pleaded guilty on Oct. 20, 2026, to Counts One through Five — a discrepancy that remains unresolved in the available record. What isn't in dispute is the outcome: per the same account, Carcise pled guilty to all counts in the case.
Decades Behind Bars Possible
The penalties Carcise faces are steep. The station's report states he faces up to 25 years for armed robbery, five years for possession of a firearm, and 15 years for attempted carjacking, with each offense carrying a $250,000 fine. Federal law identifies the bank robbery charge under 18 U.S.C. § 2113, which covers bank robbery and incidental crimes.
The firearm charge falls under a federal statute that the U.S. Sentencing Commission notes requires a mandatory minimum sentence that runs consecutively to any other prison time imposed — meaning that portion of a sentence would be added on top of time for the other charges, not served alongside it.
Sentencing Set for January
Carcise is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16, 2027, according to WGNO's report. As with all pending federal cases, the article notes that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty, though a guilty plea itself is an admission of the charged conduct. No further details about the bank's identity, the court docket, or statements from the teller or alleged carjacking victims were included in the available reporting.
