Producer Who Robbed Bank to Fund Film Sentenced

A bank robber who said he was making a movie and needed money to finish filming has been given a 10-year prison sentence in Florida. Federal prosecutors said Nacoe Ray Brown of Baltimore took nearly $4,300 in cash from the McCoy Federal Credit Union in Belle Isle last June, the Insider reports. Brown, 55, pleaded guilty in January. The maximum sentence he could have received is 20 years. "Wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, a surgical-style facemask, and plastic gloves, Brown passed a note to the teller threatening that he had a gun and demanding money," a US attorney's statement said.

Surveillance cameras showed Brown speaking to the teller, per WFLA. After receiving tips, police arrested Brown, who was unarmed, at the hotel where he was staying. He'd been released on compassionate grounds during the pandemic after serving most of a 25-year prison sentence for robbing three banks in the Baltimore area. Eight years of his latest sentence is for the robbery and two for breaking parole. (More bank robbery stories.)