GULFPORT, Miss. — A transgender Alabama woman with a history of robbing banks to fund her transition pleaded guilty Monday to committing a 2019 Mississippi heist to pay for additional plastic surgery.
Iconic Facce, 39, of Ashford, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in a Harrison County courtroom. WLOX in Biloxi reported that Facce was sentenced to 15 years on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.
Facce, who is also known as Jimmy Maurice Lewis II, had numerous prior arrests for bank robberies in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, according to the Biloxi Sun Herald.
In the latest case, Gulfport police officials said that Facce walked into a BancorpSouth Bank shortly before 10 a.m. on March 22, 2019, and handed a teller a note.
“You have 1 min to give the money do not be wrong are die,” the note read, according to WLOX.
Facce, who did not appear to be armed, was seen on the bank’s surveillance cameras as multiple tellers handed over the cash. Gulfport police officials described the robber as a woman who appeared to have had extensive plastic surgery to her cheeks, which “looked really enhanced.”
Witnesses also said the suspect’s lips looked swollen, the Sun Herald reported.
Later that morning, authorities said detectives learned of an abandoned Cadillac found near the bank, WLOX reported. Witnesses told them a person matching Facce’s description was seen walking away from the car earlier that morning.
The Cadillac’s registration led investigators to Facce’s address in Ashford, more than 270 miles away in south Alabama. Ashford police officials identified Facce as the person depicted in the bank security footage.
The bank tellers in Gulfport were also able to pick Facce out of a photo lineup.
“As the investigation continued, investigators were able to determine Facce’s cellphone service provider and obtain phone data, including geolocation information,” said prosecutor Ian Baker, who handled the case. “The geolocation data established that the phone was located in Gulfport in the area of BancorpSouth on the morning of March 22, 2019, between the hours of 7 and 11 a.m.”
The phone data indicated that Facce traveled east on Interstate 10 and north on Interstate 65 to north Alabama.
“The phone was last located on March 23, 2019, at the Hunstville International Airport,” Baker said, according to WLOX.
From there, Facce flew to Mexico for plastic surgery. A week later, on March 30, she was arrested as she returned to the U.S. via the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
Facce’s nose was still bandaged when she was taken into custody.
She fought extradition to Mississippi but was moved to Harrison County in July 2019 to face the robbery charges.
The Sun Herald reported that Facce’s mode of operation was similar in all her alleged crimes. She would go into a bank, often wearing a wig, and demand cash from tellers. She would threaten harm if the tellers did not comply.
That was the case in a Nov. 9, 2007, robbery of an Alabama Credit Union branch in Decatur, the newspaper reported.
“No games, no jokes and get your hands up,” Facce’s note read. “Don’t mash any alarms. Don’t move, or she gets it.”
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Facce, who stole more than $9,600 in the Decatur heist, was found guilty in 2008 in federal court. Records show she was sentenced to just over four years in prison.
Upon her release, she was ordered to serve three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to undergo mental health treatment after leaving prison.
The Sun Herald reported that Facce was out on bond at the time of the Alabama robbery. She faced charges in connection with a June 28, 2007 robbery at an FSG Bank in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Facce was accused of two bank robberies in December 2007, one in Dalton, Georgia and the other in Plano, Texas. She was arrested at a Los Angeles airport at one point as she returned from having surgery in Mexico.
Cox Media Group
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