Man who robbed banks on weekend passes from halfway house sentenced

Convicted of robbing an Apopka pawn shop in 2014, LaTavis Deyonta Mackroy was serving his time at a halfway house near Lockhart last year through a program that allowed him 48-hour weekend passes to leave the facility unsupervised and stay with family.

But on two of those weekends, federal prosecutors say, he carried out a bank robbery spree across Central Florida, passing threatening notes demanding cash to bank tellers in Winter Park, Kissimmee and Orange City while wearing a mask and sunglasses to hide his identity.

Three heists were successful, but Mackroy while fleeing left behind one of his notes, which bore his fingerprints, according to court filings. He was arrested and found guilty by a jury in November.

On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Mackroy, 29, to 20 years in federal prison on three counts of bank robbery and one of attempted bank robbery.

Authorities say he first robbed the Fairwinds Credit Union in

Winter Park for $3,231 on April 16, a Saturday. He returned to the halfway house the next day, then struck three banks during his next weekend pass: Chase Bank in Kissimmee on April 22, followed by TD Bank in Winter Park and Regions Bank in Orange City on April 23.

He took $4,000 from Chase Bank and $2,820 from TD Bank, but his attempt at Regions Bank fell apart after the teller walked away from his station upon reading Mackroy’s note. He fled that robbery without any money.

But one of Mackroy’s successful heists led to his arrest. When he took off after robbing TD Bank, he left the note behind.

“Empty the drawers now!! Don’t save something that’s not yours!” the note said, while also warning the teller against “false moves” or placing a tracer or dye pack among the loot. “Pass this back,” it concluded.

FBI investigators found four of Mackroy’s fingerprints on the note, officials said, and used other evidence including surveillance videos and cell phone location data to connect him to the robbery spree.