Third bank robbery called ‘crime of despair,’ brings man 12½ years in prison
Kimathi Roderico Smith got $791 from a November bank robbery in Grand Rapids; he was on probation at the time for robbing a nearby bank in 2008.
Credit: Kent County Jail
Kimathi Smith was charged in the Nov. 2, 2020 robbery at a Fifth-Third branch on Bridge Street NW Author: John Hogan Updated: 4:15 PM EDT April 16, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Months after his release from federal prison for bank robbery, Kimathi R. Smith found himself in the middle of a pandemic and struggling to survive.
So, he returned to old habits and robbed a bank.
Police seek suspect in first bank robbery of 2021; pair nabbed for heists last fall
Grand Rapids had five bank robberies in 2020; defendants arrested in two of the holdups are repeat offenders facing 20 years in federal prison.
Credit: WZZM
(Top) Photo in Jan. 4 bank robbery; Dennis Burger (L) and Kimathi Smith (R) convicted in 2020 robberies. Author: John Hogan Updated: 5:24 PM EST January 5, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. As Grand Rapids police search for a suspect in the city’s first bank robbery of 2021, two men responsible for separate heists last fall are facing 20 years for robberies that may seem hardly worth the effort.