Modesto bank robber sentenced in federal court

A San Jose man on Monday was sentenced to 26 years and seven months in federal prison for robbing a Modesto bank at gunpoint.

A jury in December found Lloyd George Kenney, 65, guilty of armed bank robbery, using a firearm during a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento reported.

On May 25, 2012, Kenney robbed the Tri Counties Bank inside the Raley’s grocery store on Roselle and Floyd avenues in east Modesto. Kenney was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and heavily disguised with a hockey helmet, facemask, long black coat and gloves.

Federal prosecutors said Kenney took $2,872 from tellers at gunpoint and left on a bicycle into a neighborhood east of the store, where he had parked a van earlier.

Within minutes of the reported robbery, a Modesto police officer spotted Kenney. Prosecutors said the defendant was still wearing the hockey helmet and entering his van before he started driving away. The officer pulled the van over and took Kenney into custody.

Inside the van, officers found the stolen cash, Kenney’s bike, a hockey helmet, a mask, a loaded Glock handgun and a loaded Browning handgun. The officers also found Kenney carrying a radio scanner set to Modesto police channels.

Police also found in the van a suspicious device that appeared to be a pipe bomb. The area of Bellharbour Drive and Dermond Road was cordoned off for a few hours. The Stanislaus County sheriff's bomb squad detonated the device, which was later determined not to be an explosive.

The prosecutors have said it appeared Kenney was using many names and home addresses, and police also found photographs and satellite images of several California banks. At the time of his arrest, he was identified as a Merced resident.

Kenney was convicted of armed bank robberies in 1984 and 1985 in California and Oregon, according to a federal indictment. In 1974, he was convicted of felony armed robbery in San Mateo County.

This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Modesto Police Department. Assistant U.S. attorneys Michael Frye and Mia Giacomazzi prosecuted the case.

This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Modesto bank robber sentenced in federal court."