Toledo man sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for armed bank robbery, carjacking, escape

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A Toledo man was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick on Feb. 2 after he pleaded guilty to using firearm to steal a vehicle, robbing a bank, possessing a firearm as a felon and escaping from jail.

According to court documents, on Aug. 13, 2018, Don Woodson Ellis, 32, used a firearm to steal a vehicle from a victim in the parking lot of a Toledo-area gas station. Later that day, Ellis entered a Fifth Third Bank on Glendale Avenue, demanded money from a bank employee and drove off.

Officers later located and arrested Ellis and also found the stolen money from the bank and a handgun inside the stolen vehicle he was driving. Ellis was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a previous felony conviction of ban robbery in Monroe County.

While incarcerated at the Lucas County Corrections Center, court documents say that Ellis convinced another inmate to switch identities with him and was released within days of his arrest due to the deception. Ellis was apprehended days later by law enforcement in Michigan.

Ellis will spend a total of 201 months in prison.

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