Sacramento, California - A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday against John William Boland, 38, of Mammoth Lakes, charging him with five counts of bank robbery and two counts of attempted robbery, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, over a period of five weeks, Boland walked into seven banks, in five different counties, and demanded that the teller give him money from the “second” drawer. He also cautioned that the money handed over should not contain any dye packs or electronic tracking devices. On at least one occasion, Boland indicated to the teller that he had a weapon. Police were able to find and arrest Boland a short time after he left the last bank, aided by witness descriptions of the would-be robber and the car in which he drove away.

According to the criminal complaint, the seven alleged robberies are as follows:

March 29, 2021, El Dorado Savings Bank in Sutter Creek;

April 1, 2021, Wells Fargo Bank in South Lake Tahoe;

April 13, 2021, Wells Fargo Bank in Truckee;

April 16, 2021, Union Bank of California in Redding;

May 1, 2021, Wells Fargo Bank in Placerville;

May 3, 2021, Umpqua Bank in El Dorado Hills (attempted); and

May 4, 2021, Wells Fargo in Bank Rancho Cordova (attempted).

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, the Rancho Cordova Police Department, the Redding Police Department, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Sutter Creek Police Department, the Placerville Police Department, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Conolly is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Boland faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conviction. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.