Macon Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Bank Robbery

Gabriel Michael Bell, 29, of Macon, has been sentenced to federal prison after robbing a Truist Bank Branch on Riverside Drive in Macon in 2023 while on federal supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell handed down the sentence on June 5.

Bell will serve a total of 111 months imprisonment, with 87 months for bank robbery and 24 months for violating supervised release. He will also face five years of supervised release and has been ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to Truist Bank. Bell was found guilty by a federal jury on March 12.

“Two tips from concerned citizens helped law enforcement quickly track down Gabriel Bell,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. Bell had previously been convicted of illegally possessing a gun.

Bell walked into the Truist Bank on Feb. 16, 2023, wearing a mask and handed a demand note to a teller. Despite no weapon being recovered, Bell fled with cash.

“The assistance of our partners with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office has resulted in a repeat offender receiving prison time,” said Robert Gibbs, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent of FBI Atlanta’s Macon Office.

According to court documents and evidence submitted at trial, Bell’s prior convictions included armed robbery of the Huddle House in Jeffersonville, Georgia, in 2015, and one count of convicted felon in illegal possession of a firearm in the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2021, for which he was on federal supervised release at the time of the Truist Bank robbery.

The case was investigated jointly by the FBI and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.