A federal fugitive arrested Wednesday near Yuma on a nationwide warrant must remain in custody until the U.S. Marshal Service can transfer him to the Western District of Pennsylvania where he was convicted of bank robbery.
In a five minute hearing on Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Metcalf ordered Todd Dwayne Atkinson, 69, temporarily detained pending his return to Pennsylvania.
Details of Atkinson’s recent arrest are not yet available from the U.S. District Court, but public records show reveal he was sentenced in June 2007 to 17.5 years in prison after being found guilty of robbing a Pittsburgh bank in July 2003. He stole $16,565 from the bank only to be captured minutes later by a security guard near the scene.
Atkinson was released from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in October 2018 to begin a 3-year term of supervision with the U.S. Probation Office. He became the subject of the warrant in August 2019 after allegedly testing positive for cannabinoids, failing to reside at a halfway house, and missing required meetings with his probation officer.
Media reports in 2003 reveal Atkinson, who has also used the last name Atkins, purportedly threw some of the bank’s money as he fled but still had about $16,000 in his clothing when arrested.