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CBS News
22-03-2025
- CBS News
Crime novelist charged in 2 Metro Detroit bank robberies
A 41-year-old author who has written at least nine crime novels is facing federal charges in connection with two bank robberies in Metro Detroit. According to a criminal complaint filed at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan earlier this month, Dorian Trevor Sykes is charged with bank robbery and incidental crimes. Charges say the first robbery happened the morning of March 6 at Credit Union One in Sterling Heights, Michigan. A man entered the bank around 11:50 a.m. and allegedly handed a note to a teller. "After the teller was not able to read the note, the subject stated, 'This is a robbery,' and demanded that the teller give him 'big bills,'" the criminal complaint said. The teller allegedly gave the man around $10,169, and the man then left the bank. Police recovered fingerprints at the Sterling Heights bank they think are the man's, and a witness told them an individual matching the man's description possibly drove a Mercedes sedan, charges say. Sykes received a traffic citation in a Mercedes Sedan in October 2024. On March 12 around 4:40 p.m., a man approached a teller at Chase Bank in Lathrup Village, Michigan, and handed the teller a withdraw slip. According to the criminal complaint, the slip said, "Give me all the money… I have a gun… I will kill everyone in here." The man allegedly implied he had a gun by pointing to his right side. Charges say the teller handed around $3,400 to the man, who took the money and left Chase Bank. Surveillance footage from a home near the Lathrup Village Bank allegedly showed an individual matching the man's description running by a condominium complex and getting into a white Rolls-Royce. According to the federal court document, Skyes has been on supervised release since February 2024 for a conviction in a 2020 bank robbery. Sykes' probation officer said he had been staying at the MGM Grand Detroit. Police watching the hotel around three hours after the robbery at Chase Bank found Sykes driving a Rolls-Royce. Charges say the vehicle fled after an officer attempted a traffic stop. Online court records show Sykes was taken into custody on March 18. A phone belonging to Sykes, according to charges, was near both banks around the time of each robbery. Sykes' written works include "King of Detroit," "The Good Life," and "Going All Out."
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Serial bank robber — who dabbles as a crime novelist — allegedly strikes again
A serial bank robber — who dabbles as a fictional crime author and has an affinity for luxury wheels — allegedly knocked off two more financial institutions near Detroit, a year after being released from prison, officials said Wednesday. Dorian Trevor Sykes, 41, was arrested Tuesday and accused of robbing the Credit Union One in Sterling Heights on March 6 and then a Chase branch in Lathrup Village on March 12, according to a criminal complaint written by police officer Matthew Willard, who is assigned to the FBI's Macomb County Gang and Violent Crime Task Force. In the March 6 incident, a man walked into the credit union, handed a teller a note and said, "This is a robbery," according to Willard. The man asked for "big bills" before fleeing in a "black crossover vehicle, possible a Mercedes sedan," with $10,169, the complaint continued. Fingerprints lifted from the credit union's front door matched that of Sykes, who drives a black Mercedes sedan, authorities said Then six days later, a man walked into the Chase location and gave a teller "a withdraw slip, which stated, 'Give me all the money ... I have a gun ... I will kill everyone in here," the complaint stated. "The robber also pointed to his right side, implying that he had a weapon," Willard added. The suspect fled with about $3,400 and surveillance cameras showed him "running behind a condominium complex and" entering "a parked white Rolls Royce SUV." Sykes had been released from prison in February last year and was under federal supervision, officials said. When he's not allegedly robbing banks, Sykes appears to spend time behind the keyboard in his side hustle as an author of crime novels. His works include 'King of Detroit,' 'The Good Life,' 'Going All Out' and 'Born to Die.' His probation officer confirmed that Sykes drove a black Mercedes sedan and cellphone records placed him near the credit union and bank at the times of those robberies, according to Willard. Sykes, who is known to frequent the MGM Grand Detroit, was nearly arrested on March 12 near that casino, officials said. Cell phone pings placed him near MGM that night but when law enforcement moved in on Sykes, he sped away in a Rolls Royce SUV and remained free until his arrest on Tuesday, police said. Sykes made his initial appearance before a judge Tuesday and asked to represent himself in court. Before his release from prison, Sykes had been serving time for two robberies he pulled Aug. 12, 2019. He hit a Citizen's Bank in Warren, getting away with $1,220, before knocking off a Comerica Bank in Oak Park and fleeing with $810. Those robberies happened "just six weeks after being released from a 17-year prison sentence for the same type of behavior" as he was "on federal supervised release when he committed those crimes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Carlson wrote in a 2020 sentencing memo, asking for a 71-month sentence. "Sykes' history paints a troubling and unmistakable picture of a person who has a complete disregard for the law," according to Carlson. This article was originally published on
