A man who attempted to rob a bank along Columbia Pike last year will spend nearly four years behind bars.
Steve Jamal Smith, 31, was sentenced Thursday to 46 months in federal prison over the Feb. 25, 2025, incident, in which he stole $711 from the Wells Fargo at 951 S. George Mason Drive.
Smith, who pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery last fall, had entered the bank around 11:15 a.m. that day and handed a note to a teller demanding “100, 50, 20, 10, now,” according to a federal affidavit.
Smith was apprehended “approximately three to five minutes” after fleeing the bank due to a GPS tracker that had been concealed between two bills. He admitted to the robbery immediately after being taken into custody, police said.
“I need money, and they gave me money,” Smith told officers, according to court documents.
Smith’s arrest came a day after he tried to rob an Alexandria bank, but that attempt failed after the teller decided to “play dumb,” an affidavit states.
Smith was previously found guilty of targeting two other banks in the D.C. region back in 2016.
On Jan. 16, 2016, Smith and a co-conspirator attempted to rob a bank in Northwest D.C. by presenting a demand note to a teller, according to court documents. They did not receive any money before leaving the bank.
That same day, the two men again attempted to rob another bank — this time in Silver Spring, Md., court documents say. Once again, they left empty-handed.
For his role in those two attempts, Smith was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Court records indicate that Smith violated the terms of his probation and ultimately did not finish serving his sentence until October 2024.
