Two Convicted for 2013 String of Armed Bank Robberies in Arlington, Vienna

Two men tied to a string of 2013 armed robberies who were convicted Monday in a Virginia federal court could face life in prison.

James McNeal, 63, of Hyattsville, Maryland, and Alphonso Stoddard, 59, of Forest heights, Maryland, were convicted by a federal jury Monday of armed bank robbery, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Stoddard was also convicted in connection with armed robberies at a Wells Fargo in Rockville, Md. and the Bank of Georgetown in Vienna, Va. both in Oct. 2013.

On Dec. 27, 2013, McNeal and Stoddard robbed two banks in Arlington including a Wells Fargo branch on South George Mason Drive. Four days later, McNeal, Stoddard and a third man - James Link, 56, of Washington, D.C. - robbed a bank and removed $47,000 in cash. An FBI SWAT team, which had been conducting surveillance of the three men before they arrived at the bank, arrested the men approximately one block away from the bank.

Link pleaded guilty to two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and admitted his involvement in four bank robberies. Link also admitted to involvement with the Bank of Georgetown robbery and another armed robbery at a Wells Fargo in Arlington in Nov. 2013. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years and will be sentenced Sept. 12.

Stoddard faces a life sentence due while McNeal faces up to life in prison with a mandatory minimum of seven years. Both men will be sentenced Nov. 7.