Judge sentences New Orleans man to 12 years for Mobile bank heist that was part of multistate spree

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A New Orleans man who admitted to robbing a bank on Old Shell Road in 2017 will go to prison for 12 years – the same as his co-defendant nephew – a federal judge ruled Thursday.

John Rudolph, 50, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit bank robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer sentenced him to five years on the conspiracy charge followed by seven years on the gun charge, for a total of 12. He also ordered the defendant to make $7,257 in restitution. He will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years after his release from prison.

The holdup of the Servis First Bank on Aug. 24, 2017, was part of a bank robbery spree from Louisiana and Florida by Rudolph and nephew Aaron Rudolph.

Court records show that Aaron and John Rudolph, along with a third man who has not been identified, drove to a parking lot that led to a Pizza Hut. The driver backed the car close to the building. John Rudolph admitted that he handed a brown bag to a teller, pulled out a gun and placed it sideways.

Rudolph got more than $7,000 from the robbery.

By the time Rudolph pleaded guilty, he already had served a five-year sentence in Louisiana after pleading guilty in 2019 to robbing the First Bank and Trust in Hammond, Louisiana. Rudolph got $10,491 in that one, according to his written plea agreement.

Rudolph’s lawyer in the Mobile case asked the judge to take that sentence into account and give him a sentencing break since it was part of the same overall conspiracy involving bank robberies during a three-week period. The other heists included a holdup of a Midsouth Bank branch in Lafayette, Louisiana, in which Rudolph got cash from the teller and stuffed it in his pants; and a holdup of Beach Community Bank in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Court records indicate he stole more than $1,000.

In addition, Aaron Rudolph admitted that he robbed a bank in Long Beach, Mississippi, during that period.

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