A Palm Beach County man was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison Wednesday for holding up a bank, assaulting workers, stealing $69,000 and firing his gun at police, court records show.
Eddie Isaac Bean, 25, of Riviera Beach, was shot in the leg by police on Sept. 23 as he tried to escape after holding up the TD Bank on the 2600 block of Forest Hill Boulevard in Palm Springs.
Bean pleaded guilty earlier this year to bank robbery with assault and firing a gun during a violent crime.
Authorities said Bean was armed with a handgun when he held up the bank. He had wrapped a bandana around his face and wore a baseball cap and orange safety vest, witnesses said.
FBI agents said he terrorized several people in the bank during the holdup.
He forced employees to empty their teller drawers and hit several employees in the head with his gun while forcing them to let him into the bank vault.
Police shot a bank robbery suspect as he exited the TD bank on Forest Hill Blvd. in Palm Springs around noon Tuesday.
Bean stuffed more than $69,000 into his backpack and tried to escape. Palm Springs police officers were waiting for Bean outside the bank. Authorities said he fired at least one round as he attempted to flee, but police shot him in the leg and he was arrested in the bank’s parking lot.
In a letter to the judge, Bean apologized for his crimes and said he had embraced religion in the months he spent in jail since his arrest. He said he had trained as an X-ray technician but became stressed and abused alcohol after being laid off from a roofing job.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra sentenced Bean to 27 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
The judge also ordered him to receive sex offender treatment. According to court records, Bean inappropriately groped and touched some of the people in the bank during the robbery.
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