The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Bearded Bandit’ won’t be resentenced for bank robbery
A former Case Western Reserve University football player and wrestler convicted of holding up a string of Northeast Ohio businesses wearing a fake beard has lost his fight to be resentenced for a Painesville Township bank robbery.
Dawud Wilson, a 31-year-old former South Euclid man, was dubbed the “Bearded Bandit” by law enforcement after allegedly robbing 11 Cuyahoga County stores in just six months wearing a fake beard and glasses.
He was arrested in 2015 for robbing
Buckeye State Credit Union on Fairgrounds Road in Painesville Township on April 17 of that year after a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy noticed Wilson’s Ford Ranger truck, which matched the description of the bank robber’s vehicle.
Wilson handed the Buckeye State teller a note saying he had a loaded gun with him and to place all the bills from her drawer on the counter. Wilson left the bank with $1,972.
In January 2016, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the Buckeye State incident by Lake County Common Pleas Judge Richard L. Collins Jr. after pleading no contest to robbery and a repeat violent offender specification.
On appeal, Wilson claimed Collins erred by denying his July 2015 motion to suppress, arguing the deputy lacked reasonable suspicion to stop him because he could not tell if he had a beard.
The appellate court disagreed.
Writing for the court, 11th District Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice said the only reason the deputy was unable to confirm whether the suspect had a beard was because Wilson turned away when he saw the deputy.
“(Wilson) thus matched the suspect’s description in terms of his gender, race and clothing,” Rice stated in her opinion. “As a result, when the deputy stopped (Wilson), he had a reasonable, articulate suspicion that he was the robber.”
Wilson claimed he also was improperly found to be a repeat violent offender based on two 2009 convictions in Cuyahoga County for aggravated robbery. In addition, he argued that his sentence was excessive because there was no threat to cause physical harm because no evidence was presented that he actually had a gun.
“However, the statement in appellant’s note that ‘I have a loaded gun on me’ was direct evidence he had a gun,” Rice said.
The appellate judge noted that Wilson was found with dried glue on his face, the exact amount of the stolen cash, his robbery note on the vehicle floor and a three-page list of other banks with their locations, escape routes and notes on whether or not they would be good targets.
Eleventh District Judge Diane V. Grendell concurred with Rice’s opinion.
Appellate Judge Timothy P. Cannon partially dissented with the majority, finding Wilson should be re-sentenced on a twoyear sentence for the repeat violent offender portion of his Lake County crime.
“... There are two serious flaws in this case,” Cannon stated in his dissenting opinion. “First, (Wilson) never, at any time, admitted or stipulated to threatening ‘serious physical harm.’ The prosecutor never stated that appellant threatened ‘serious physical harm.’ Nevertheless,
the trial court proceeded to make a factual finding based on the facts presented by the prosecutor. Second, that finding was made even though it was not alleged in the indicted count to which (Wilson) pled no contest.”
Wilson also was convicted of robbing various restaurants and convenience stores between October 2014 and April 2015 in Cuyahoga County. Witnesses consistently stated the perpetrator in those cases had a gun and a “fake” black beard.
After his case in Lake County concluded, Wilson pleaded no contest to all 32 Cuyahoga County counts and was sentenced to serve an additional 16 years in prison.
However, the 8th District Court of Appeals recently vacated Wilson’s convictions and sentence for the Cuyahoga County incidents after Wilson successfully argued that his plea was not “knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently entered.”
Wilson’s trial on the Cuyahoga County charges is scheduled for April 25.