Ex-New Mexico Police Informant Headed to Prison After Admitting 5 Bank Robberies to Feed Addiction

In total, the five robberies that took place within 6 miles of one another over the course of five weeks in early 2022 were committed by Jason Smeltzer, 41, who got away with less than $4,000, according to court documents. ABCNEWS.

A man who admitted to five bank robberies in Albuquerque last year, including one bank he robbed twice in an effort to fuel his fentanyl addiction, was given a sentence of more than two years in prison. (PHOTO: MSN.COM)

The Police Robbery

According to documents filed in the U.S., the disarmed Albuquerque man who earlier worked as a confidential police informant repeatedly gave notes to tellers requesting them to “please” drop cash in an envelope while stating he was a vigilante assisting law enforcement. judicial district in Albuquerque.

Since Smeltzer had no prior adult criminal convictions, assistant federal public defender Dennis Candelaria had urged for a sentence of only 18 months in prison. He said that Smeltzer had been using drugs to treat his knee injury pain for years and that he was committed to rehabilitation.

In a pre-sentence report, Candelaria stated that “Fentanyl completely took control of his life.” “Mr. Smeltzer resembles a classic bank thief in many ways. In order to satisfy his heroin addiction, he is robbing a bank. We may, however, look behind his deeds and discover a person who, unlike the normal bank robber, never intended to harm anyone.

New Mexico Police Inmate’s Prison Sentence: A Tale of Injustice

Smeltzer “committed each of these bank robberies by passing a note and requesting the teller to ‘please’ place money in an envelope,” the prosecutor claimed.

According to court records, he handed a teller a note in one instance claiming, “I am that vigilante that helps law enforcement take down drug dealers,” while another stated he was a vigilante “helping the police catch drug dealers and stop overdoses.”

The latter added, “Thank you, I sincerely appreciate it. I will pay back.

On March 22, Smeltzer entered a plea of guilty to five charges of bank robbery. He was given a term of 27 months in jail, followed by three years of supervised release, on July 18.