Deron Lewis-Payne left a physical trail after robbing an Omaha bank in February, ditching cash and clothing that investigators would later recover. However it was the digital evidence, pulled from his own phone after he consented to a search, that filled in the most damning details of how the robbery was planned. According to court documents, that search revealed he had used ChatGPT in the lead-up to the crime, asking the AI chatbot about law enforcement response times, how to disassemble and repair the Llama Mini-Max .45 handgun he’d go on to use, and how a convicted felon might obtain ammunition. His Google Maps history gave away his scheme, showing recent searches for directions to the exact bank he later robbed.
That evidence contributed to a sentence handed down August 13, 2026, when the 23-year-old was ordered to serve 121 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. US Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced the sentence, which District Court Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr. structured as 37 months for the robbery itself plus a consecutive 84 months for brandishing the weapon. Because there’s no parole in the federal system, Lewis-Payne will serve the full term before beginning five years of supervised release.
The robbery itself took place on February 10, 2026, when Lewis-Payne entered i3Bank on Spaulding Street in Omaha and pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at two tellers, threatening to kill them if they didn’t comply and specifically warning them against slipping dye packs into the cash. They complied, and he left with roughly $9,175.
Bank surveillance footage captured his face, unmasked, along with distinctive clothing that included red Nike slides, and clearly showed the weapon he’d used. Nearby residential cameras caught the getaway vehicle, including its license plate and identifying features like a toolbox and specific rust spots. Investigators later matched that footage against transaction records at Westroads Mall, where Lewis-Payne had gone on a shopping spree with the stolen cash, buying shoes and clothing shortly after the robbery.
When officers eventually located him near one of his residences, he fled the scene, dropping banded cash as he ran. A subsequent search of his residences turned up another currency band, the getaway vehicle, and most of the clothing seen in the surveillance footage, including the red slides. Lewis-Payne initially admitted only to driving the vehicle, denying direct involvement in the robbery, before the phone search undercut that account entirely.
The firearm used in the robbery was never recovered, and investigators ultimately recouped $2,397 of the roughly $9,175 taken. The FBI led the investigation.
