Three Denver-area men have been charged in federal court in the June 17 armed robbery of a Wells Fargo branch in Wheat Ridge, Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
During the crime, the robbers brandished guns and forced employees to the floor.
At one point, they held a gun to one employee’s head, according to an arrest affidavit
They carried off more than $600,000, including 4,500 $100 bills, in black trash bags. The getaway car was found burned after the robbery.
Gabriel Archuleta, 19, Thomas Lucero, 21, and Thomas McQuonwn, 48, each have been charged on one count of armed bank robbery. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, the office said in a release.
Federal officials alleged the three robbed the Wells Fargo Bank at 6000 W. 44th Ave.
Officials say Lakewood police, Denver police, Wheat Ridge police and the FBI all assisted in the investigation that led to the arrests.
According to an arrest affidavit, Lucero showed friends video of the robbery that he took on his cellphone and paid $10,000 cash for a BMW and made other large cash purchases after the robbery.
Lucero and Archuleta each gave their mothers $10,000 cash at about the same time.
Lucero has a Facebook page as “Krook Lucero,” and Archuleta has a Facebook page labeled “Crook Archuleta.”
Cellphone records linked the men to a former bank employee who told agents she was paid $90,000 to help plan the robbery, the affidavit says.
She has not been charged.
