A Gainesville man was sentenced to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty to robbing a Wells Fargo bank on SW Archer in August 2025.

According to a Northern District of Florida U.S. Attorney’s Office press release sent on Wednesday, Patrick Shane Johnson, 51, of Gainesville, Florida, was sentenced in federal court to bank robbery and larceny.

“Thanks to the lightning-fast response of the Gainesville Police Department, this violent criminal was quickly caught and now my office has ensured he will be kept off our streets for several years,” said John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, in the release. “This is yet another successful prosecution under Operation Take Back America, which launched under the direction of President Donald J. Trump to devote the full might of the Department of Justice toward removing violent criminals like this defendant from our communities to deliver the safe streets our citizens deserve.”

The incident occurred on Aug. 27, 2025, when Johnson entered a Wells Fargo bank at 3505 SW Archer Road and passed a note to a teller. The note read, “This is no joke, it is an armed bank robbery. All of the money now, I am armed.”

Johnson took over $1,000 cash and fled. The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) responded and immediately apprehended the defendant. He was charged with robbery with a firearm and taken to the Alachua County Jail after being taken to the hospital for medical issues unrelated to the arrest.

“A violent threat inside a bank is every employee’s nightmare, but because of the immediate response by our officers, this dangerous offender was taken back into custody within moments,” said Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya in the release.

The conviction and sentence were the result of a joint investigation by the Gainesville Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Christie S. Utt prosecuted the case.