Seventy-year-old South Bend man found guilty of ninth bank robbery attempt since 2013

CASS COUNTY, Mich. -- Dennis Love, a 70-year-old South Bend man who has suffered multiple strokes and attempted nine different bank robberies in the area, has been found guilty of his latest attempt at the Cassopolis Fifth Third Bank on Feb. 27, 2023.

"His T-shirt read 'Cleverly Disguised as an Adult'. But the jury verdict form read 'Guilty as Charged,' said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz. “We are weary of the repetitive and highly dangerous behavior of this man-child. His day of reckoning is upon him.”

Authorities say arguments in the case ended around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning with the jury only needed 45 minutes to come back with a unanimous verdict.

"In 2013 a spate of bank robberies plagued the Michiana area, with Love eventually being tracked down by the FBI and local authorities for his bank jobs that year at the Community Wide Bank in Granger, Indiana, Farmer’s State Bank in Leesburg, Indiana, Honor Credit Union in Berrien Springs, Michigan, PNC Bank in Martin, Michigan, Consumers Credit Union in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Southern Michigan Bank in Tekonsha, Michigan, and Riverside Credit Union in Comstock Park, Michigan," Fitz said.

"These coordinated investigations and prosecutions resulted in Love being convicted federally of armed robbery of a credit union and two felony counts of brandishing a firearm during a robbery. He was also convicted of attempted robbery in the Allegan County, Michigan Circuit Court."

In 2014, Love received a lengthy federal prison sentence for his actions but, authorities say, in 2020, he received a COVID Pandemic compassionate release and returned to his home in South Bend where he went back to living with his wife of 14 years.

Documents show that at trial, Love's wife testified saying Love had gambled away their monthly mortgage payment at a local casino in late February of 2023 and began showing "significant signs of agitation."

"His angst culminated in criminal actions on February 27, 2023," Fitz said.

Authorities say trial testimony and evidence showed Love leaving his home on Delano Street in South Bend in his dark-colored van and heading up to Cassopolis in the early afternoon.

"Once there, he spent several hours casing the Cassopolis Fifth Third Bank on Broadway Street," Fitz said.

"At about 4 p.m. on the 27th a man was recorded on video entering the Cassopolis Fifth Third Bank, wearing a Black 'Nolan' Motorcycle helmet, BMW sandals and a brown t-shirt emblazoned in yellow with a 'Happy Face' and the wording 'Cleverly Disguised as an adult'. He went directly to the nearest teller and repeatedly demanded the money in her top drawer. The teller’s initial disbelief quickly transitioned into fear as she realized she was being robbed. Other bank employees testified to a similar reaction."

Love was able to make off with roughly $1,554 which he put in a yellow Dollar General bag. He left the bank and made his way down the block to a waiting van.

A few days later, when FBI Agents spotted the dark-colored van outside Love's Delano Street home, the search it and found the motorcycle helmet, the BMW sandals, a yellow Dollar General bag, and over $1,000 on the floor of the van and roughly $242 in the glove compartment.

Love's trial began on April 9, during which both his sister and his wife watched the Fifth Third Bank robbery video and identified their Love as the robber.

"Of particular note was his extremely distinctive 'shuffle' as he walked---a byproduct of strokes in 2006 and 2009," Fitz said. "Both women cried on the stand as they acknowledged that the person seen on the surveillance video robbing the Cassopolis Fifth Third Bank was Dennis Love."

The jury also found the Defendant guilty of a lesser charge of Larceny in a Building, a four-year felony.

Love will be sentenced as a habitual offender at his May 10 sentencing hearing.