(CASSOPOLIS) – A South Bend man has been sentenced in the robbery of a Cassopolis bank.

Cass County Circuit Court online records say 70 year old Dennis Love has been given a sentence of 4 to 40 years in prison on a charge of bank robbery and was given credit for 435 days served on a charge of larceny in a building. He was found guilty April 16 following a trial in Cass County Circuit Court.

At 4 PM on February 27, 2023, the Fifth Third Bank in Cassopolis was robbed by a man wearing a black motorcycle helmet and a brown t-shirt. The man went to a teller and demanded money, then left the bank with over $1,500 and drove off in a van.

Cassopolis Police found surveillance video that established Love’s presence in Cassopolis shortly before the robbery. Two days after the robbery the F.B.I., confronted Love outside his house. They searched his van and found the helmet, t-shirt and over $1,200 of the missing money.

During the trial, Love’s wife testified that he had gambled away their monthly mortgage payment at a local casino in late February and then started becoming agitated.

Love had been connected with a series of bank robberies in 2013 around Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, including robberies in Tekonsha, Berrien Springs, Kalamazoo and Martin, Michigan.

He was sentenced in 2014 to Federal prison, but in 2020 received a COVID Pandemic compassionate release and returned home to live with his wife.