NEW BERN, N.C. –Kijuan Haassan Sharp was sentenced today in federal court to 92 months’ imprisonment for his conviction for bank robbery. Additionally, he was ordered to pay $160,600.00 in restitution.
Sharp pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery on January 14, 2022.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, on August 5, 2019, Kijuan Sharp entered a SunTrust Bank in Raleigh. Sharp told an employee he was there to open a bank account. Sharp, who was carrying a plastic grocery bag, was escorted to the employee’s office, where Sharp placed the bag on her desk. The employee observed what she thought was a bomb inside the bag. Sharp then gave the employee a handwritten note stating that “there is a bomb in the bag, I have a surveillance van and if police are alerted the bomb will go off, place as much money as you can in the bag.” The employee went to the bank vault and gave $160,000 to Sharp. Sharp fled the bank and got away. It was later determined that the bomb was a hoax. The FBI and Raleigh Police Dept. received a tip that Sharp was the bank robber. Sharp also began posting himself holding stacks of money and wearing similar clothes as the bank robber on social media. Several days after the robbery, Sharp purchased a new car. Agents obtained a search warrant for Sharp’s residence and found receipts for $50,000 in recently purchased jewelry, men’s designer clothes with price tags still on them, and the components that Sharp used to make the hoax explosive device.
Daniel P. Bubar, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Raleigh Police Department investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane J. Jackson prosecuted the case.
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:19-cr-00384-FL-1.
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