By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 26, 2026 – An Anchorage man who carried out two bank robberies within 24 hours while already on bail has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska.
Ezekiel Thomas, 38, robbed a bank in Anchorage on in September, just two days after being released on bail in multiple pending state cases, including a prior bank robbery in Bethel. According to court documents, Thomas entered the Anchorage bank and handed an employee a note implying that people would be harmed if money was not turned over. The employee complied, and Thomas fled with $590.
The following day, Thomas targeted a second bank in Palmer, again using an intimidating demand note. In that robbery, he obtained approximately $2,270 before leaving the bank. Palmer Police Department officers quickly responded, detained the suspect, and identified him as the same individual involved in the Anchorage robbery a day earlier.
Federal prosecutors said Thomas’ actions were part of a pattern of repeat criminal behavior. At the time of the robberies, he was not only out on bail but also on probation for a prior bank robbery conviction.
“Mr. Thomas is a career criminal that chose to brazenly rob two banks while out on state bail over a span of 24 hours,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman, who credited Palmer police and federal investigators for bringing the case to a swift resolution.
FBI Anchorage Field Office Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel said the crimes spanned multiple Alaska communities and underscored Thomas’ “blatant disregard for the law and for the safety of others,” noting the coordinated effort between federal and local law enforcement.
Additional police records show Thomas had recent run-ins with law enforcement even before the September robberies. On Sept. 10, 2025, Anchorage police responded to a disturbance on West Dimond Boulevard, where Thomas was wanted on two outstanding misdemeanor warrants and a felony probation violation tied to a previous robbery conviction. Officers obtained a search warrant after Thomas refused to respond, and a police K9 unit was deployed. The dog located Thomas inside a room and apprehended him with a bite to the arm. He was taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment before being booked into the Anchorage Jail on multiple charges, including resisting arrest.
Despite that arrest and his criminal history, Thomas was released on bail days later, and within 48 hours, he carried out the Anchorage and Palmer bank robberies that led to his federal conviction. But he only received a seven-year sentence for those crimes. Meanwhile, he has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the arresting officer and the Anchorage Police Department.
4 thoughts on “Anchorage man gets just 7 years for back-to-back bank robberies while out on bail”
Probably should had given the “young” man twenty years without probation. Probably made him do full sentence of that way when he gets out he’ll be 58 and almost 60 and prison will had settled him.
Seven years is appropriate. Yes he’s 38 years old, and he should’ve known better, but in seven years, he’ll finally have grown up and we owe him that opportunity to have a clean slate and move on with his life. I’m a conservative, but I believe that our sentencing laws and sentencing requirements are too tough conservatives shouldn’t expect people to go to jail forever.
Seven years, which will likely be closer to three, may be an appropriate sentence for the first offense but this piece of human garbage has apparently been robbing most of his adult live. The appropriate sentence at this point should be twenty years and not in some federal country club, he should spend that twenty working twelve hour days making large rocks into small rocks with a hammer.
With respect, Steve, since when do we “owe” a career criminal anything?
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Anybody “owe” us a life free of wondering what the boy might do next, wondering if we’ll have to defend our loved ones, or ourselves in a Second Amendment way from Robber 3.0, just in case he’s upset with the notion that robbing banks is actually not an acceptable career choice?
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Your family’s in the bank when the robber who should have known better hits it, are you thinking clean slate or clean headstone?
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Probably no right or wrong answers, seems reasonable to ask.