‘This is a stickup’: Columbus man caught hours later pleads in Wells Fargo robbery

A Columbus man who walked into the Wells-Fargo bank on Whittlesey Road and said “This is a stickup” in 2019 has pleaded guilty to bank robbery.

Emory Fredrick, 57, never showed the bank teller a gun, on March 11, 2019, but the teller believed he could have had one because “he kept messing with one of his pockets,” federal authorities said in a news release Thursday.

He demanded large bills, stuffed the cash into a gray bag he’d brought, and walked out with $1,138.

Collecting security camera images and witnesses’ descriptions at the 5538 Whittlesey Blvd. bank, Columbus police and FBI agents caught Fredrick within hours.

He pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Columbus. Judge Clay Land set his sentencing for July 14.

Fredrick faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, authorities said.

Tim Chitwood

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

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Tim Chitwood is from Seale, Alabama, and started as a police beat reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer in 1982. He since has covered Columbus’ serial killings and other homicides, following some from the scene of the crime to trial verdicts and ensuing appeals. He also has been a Ledger-Enquirer humor columnist since 1987. He’s a graduate of Auburn University, and started out working for the weekly Phenix Citizen in Phenix City, Ala.