Bank robber who dressed as a woman takes plea

PERKINS TWP. — A man who robbed a Perkins Township bank in 2021 was recently sentenced to federal prison. Albert L. Burley, Jr., pleaded guilty in February to one count of bank robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Judge James R. Knepp II, of the Ohio Northern District, sentenced Burley to 10-and-a-half years on the burglary charge and seven years on the brandishing a firearm charge. Burley was ordered to serve the sentences consecutively for a total term of 17-and-a-half years. He was ordered to pay a $200 assessment as well as more than $10,000 in restitution. The crime On the morning of Sept. 17, 2021, Burley walked into a bank in the 5500 block of Milan Road (U.S. 250), dressed in a black dress with a hoodie and sunglasses. He also had a scarf covering his face and was wearing women's sandals. Burley threatened a teller with the use of a weapon and fled the bank on foot, according to an FBI news release. Police were called to the bank when a panic alarm was activated. Burley was on the loose for approximately two months before being arrested in Baltimore in December 2021. Burley was identified early on in the investigation by Perkins police Det. Timothy Alexander, who reviewed surveillance footage from several building cameras and spotted Burley at the Days Inn. "He was just a little blur on the surveillance footage walking in the parking lot toward Walmart. You could barely see him," Alexander said. "We thought he may have taken off, but I figured I'd check the guest log." Only four people were checked into the hotel that morning, one of which was Burley's wife. After Alexander learned Burley had several burglary charges out of Minnesota and Baltimore, he became a suspect. "We watched all the video we could of him at the hotel," Alexander said. "We watched him walking around the hotel building just before the robbery that morning." After witnessing Burley change from a sweatshirt and shorts into the black dress, he was seen at the bank and Alexander was positive it was the man they were looking for. With assistance from the Sandusky FBI office, a federal warrant was issued.