PORTLAND, Ore. – A serial bank robber in the state of Oregon was sentenced to federal prison after admitting to robbing at least 11 banks. The 61-year-old man committed his last heist after he had been granted compassionate release from a prior punishment for the same type of crime.
In April, Clifford Uptegrove pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery. On Thursday, he learned his fate would include more than 23 years in prison, Law&Crime reported.
U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez sentenced Uptegrove to 280 months of incarceration, according to a press release issued by the Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The serial bank robber was most recently arrested on Dec. 17, 2021, after robbing a Umpqua Bank branch in Hermiston, Oregon. During the armed robbery, Uptegrove brandished a firearm and demanded large bills before fleeing with $13,690 in cash. As he fled the scene, he also tried to steal a truck, according to the press release.
Shortly after committing the heist, “a Hermiston police officer spotted Uptegrove and attempted a traffic stop,” according to federal prosecutors. “Uptegrove led the officer on a brief pursuit before stopping and being placed under arrest without further incident.”
After Uptegrove was captured, he reportedly told his sister during a phone call from jail, “Don’t rob banks with drive-through windows. Both times I did that, I got caught.”
His sister replied, “How about just don’t rob banks?”
During Thursday’s sentencing, Judge Hernandez seemed to wryly agree with the defendant’s sibling when he exhorted, “Maybe you shouldn’t rob banks,” according to a courtroom report by The Oregonian.
Uptegrove’s final bank robbery occurred approximately 14 months after he was granted pandemic-era compassionate release due to a combination of his age — he was 57 at the time — and a medically-diagnosed asthma condition, which allegedly placed him at advanced risk for contracting COVID-19, federal prosecutors said in November 2020. He was at the tail end of a 16.5-year prison sentence for armed robbery when he was freed.
The defense attorney blamed Uptegrove’s use of heroin as a reason for committing the bank robberies, Law&Crime reported.
While acknowledging Uptegrove’s drug addiction, yet expressing a bit of sarcasm, the judge scolded him for the violent crime.
“People that get guns put in their faces, they don’t care about what caused that,” Hernandez told the defendant. “That doesn’t matter to them what your problem was.”
