Mirror staff reports:

After serving 14 years in prison for a double bank robbery, a Federal Way man is back behind bars because of another bank robbery.

Federal Way resident Robert Revels III was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for his connection with the March 10, 2010, robbery of a U.S. Bank branch on 38th Street in Tacoma. About four months before that crime, Revels had finished a prison sentence for two bank robberies from 1997, according to U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.

In the 2010 bank robbery, a masked robber brandished a loaded pistol and threatened the bank employees and customers, including a young boy. The robber, who also kicked a prone security guard, made off with more than $8,000. A tracking device was hidden in the bag of money, according to Durkan’s office.

Police followed the tracking device and found Revels, along with the money, mask and clothing from the robbery. Although the mask contained DNA evidence from Revels, he claimed that others had robbed the bank. Revels claimed that he had picked up the cash they dropped.

In December 2011, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle convicted Revels of aiding and abetting the robbery because the evidence failed to show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Revels was the robber, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Revels has previous convictions in addition to the above-mentioned crimes. In 1987, he was convicted for beating a 58-year-old janitor with a tire iron. In 1992 and 1995, he served jail terms for beating two women in domestic violence incidents. In 1996, he tried to ram police cars in an attempt to escape law enforcement.

“Revels is a career violent offender who comes before the court convicted of yet another violent crime,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. “The victims from the U.S. Bank robbery will live forever with the memory of the terrifying ninety seconds when a masked robber held their lives in his hands.”