Bank Robber Aaron Dugar Held Stolen Money Less Than 20 Minutes, Judge Hands Him More Than 12 Years

DENVER (CBS4) -- About two years ago, 35-year-old Aaron Dugar of Denver pointed a gun at a Montbello woman and her son and stole their SUV. An hour and a half later, he walked into the lobby of Bank of the West in Wheat Ridge, placed a backpack in front of a teller, placed his index finger to his lips to request quiet, then raised his gun in the air.

He racked the slide on the gun, a semi-automatic. He pointed the gun at the teller and demanded money.

"Don't make me tell you to hurry up again," he told the teller, according to court documents.

Three tellers put money in Dugar's backpack at gunpoint.

"Big bills only," he told one.

Then he made a break for it, running out of the lobby doors.

Inside his backpack was almost $15,000 in cash.

And two tracking devices.

At 10:58 a.m., Adams County dispatchers notified nearby ACSO deputies and Commerce City police officers of the devices' location. They found the stolen SUV parked on Jolene Court near a mobile home park. Dugar was inside, along with a backpack full of money, cash on the floorboard at his feet, a handgun, and the trackers. He refused to leave the car. Adams County deputies broke the driver's side window to get him out.

Dugar had entered the bank in Wheat Ridge at 10:49 a.m.

On Jan. 19th, a judge sentenced Dugar to 147 months in federal prison for the armed carjacking and bank robbery.

"Criminals just don't seem to catch on that bank robbery is a crime that doesn't pay, as the robbers almost always get caught," said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn.

Dugar is required to be supervised for three years following his release from prison.

He has arrests for burglary, menacing, strangulation, assault, stalking and child abuse in his Colorado criminal history, online records show. Most were in Denver.