A 23-year-old man from Omaha, Nebraska has been handed a 121-month federal prison sentence after using ChatGPT to help plan and carry out a bank robbery.
Deron Lewis-Payne was sentenced on August 13 by District Court Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr. in Omaha. He received 37 months for the robbery itself and an additional 84 months for brandishing a firearm during the crime. The two terms will run one after the other. There is no parole in the federal system, so he will also serve five years of supervised release once he is freed.
Court records show that Lewis-Payne walked into i3Bank on Spaulding Street on February 10, 2026, carrying a black semi-automatic handgun. He pointed the weapon at two tellers, threatened to kill them, and ordered them to empty their cash drawers without including any dye packs. The tellers handed over about $9,175, and he fled.
Surveillance cameras inside the bank captured clear images of his face and the red Nike slides he was wearing. Nearby residential cameras also recorded the getaway vehicle, including its license plates and distinctive features such as a toolbox and rust spots on the body.
After the robbery, Lewis-Payne went on a spending spree at Westroads Mall, buying clothes and shoes with cash from the heist. Officers later tracked him to one of his residences, where he tried to run and left behind banded stacks of cash. A search of his homes turned up the vehicle used in the robbery, most of the clothes he had worn that day, and another bundle of money.
Although he first admitted only to driving the car, Lewis-Payne later agreed to let investigators search his phone. That search revealed he had turned to ChatGPT for help planning the crime. He had asked the chatbot about police response times, how to strip and repair a Llama Mini-Max .45 handgun, and how to get ammunition despite being a convicted felon. His Google Maps history also showed recent searches for directions to the bank.
Investigators recovered roughly $2,397 of the stolen money. The gun itself has not been found. The FBI handled the investigation.
