‘I like to be in prison.’ Miami and Broward bank robber tells judge to give ‘me the max’
In contrast to most convicted felons writing to the sentencing judge, South Florida serial bank robber Terry Meach didn’t plead for leniency before last week’s sentencing.
Meach pleaded for prison time.
Meach wrote “I like to be in prison” and “please, could you consider giving me the max or the most time so that I can get back to my normal life in a controlled environment?”
Last week in Fort Lauderdale, U.S. District Court Judge Rodney Smith didn’t give Meach all that he wanted after the repeat offender pleaded guilty to three counts of bank robbery. Smith sentenced Meach to 20 years in federal prison, which is the maximum for one count of bank robbery.
Meach’s September letter to Smith stated, “Prison keeps me from my own self destruction and keeps the outside community safer.
“I know I’m going to mess up again. I always have the same results, 100% truth. I love the life I have in prison. I made family and good jobs. Please, understand me. I know right from wrong, and I’m not crazy at all. I just know myself better than anyone else does.”
Court documents, including Meach’s guilty plea, support his claim.
‘I’m going to rob another bank’
Meach went into federal prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to robbing a Miami SunTrust Bank branch and a Fort Lauderdale TD Bank branch. Just 10 days out of prison, in 2016, Meach robbed a bank in Doral.
READ MORE: Doral bank robber throws money in the air, causes bomb scare
Meach was sentenced to eight years and three months for that.
Two weeks after his Feb. 9 release, Meach strolled into a Hollywood Truist at 1800 Young Cir. at 9:44 a.m. wearing black head covering and makeup. He told a teller he wanted money and had a gun. The teller handed over $2,419 cash while hitting the alarm.
The manager of a nearby Circle K recognized Meach as being in the store that day and using the store phone to call a taxi. Taxi surveillance video showed Meach being dropped at the Truist branch.
Two days later, Feb. 25, Broward sheriff’s deputies ran into Meach at a Mobil station on U.S. 1 in Dania Beach. Body cameras showed Meach giving his name, that he’d been in prison for bank robbery, and telling the deputies he was wanted for a $4,000 bank robbery the previous day in Boca Raton that had been on the local TV news. He said he’d been “trying to turn himself in all day.”
Meach had the wrong day, amount and city — his stop at Truist was the only bank robbery in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach counties the previous two days — and BSO deputies couldn’t find any outstanding warrants against him. So, they told him to leave the gas station property.
“If you don’t take me today, I’m going to rob another bank,” Meach told the deputies.
Two days later
Around 4:36 p.m. Feb. 27, Meach entered what was then a Fifth Third Bank at 808 SE 17th St. in Fort Lauderdale with his hand in his pocket.
“Give me the money, I have a bomb,” he said.
When the teller backed away from the counter, Meach backed out of the robbery, leaving and going 100 yards east to the Truist Bank at 900 SE 17th St. This time, he demanded money and claimed he had a gun. The teller gave Meach $2,379.
Though he tried to tell Hollywood police on March 1 he was a wanted bank robber, he wasn’t taken into custody until a probation violation petition was filed in April. Meach had tested positive for cocaine, his whereabouts were unknown and he’d missed reporting on Feb. 14 and 15, and he hadn’t participated in an approved mental health treatment program.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey O’Neal prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI’s Miami office.
This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 11:47 AM.
