North Fort Myers man gets 35 years in federal prison for several robberies

A North Fort Myers man was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for two bank robberies, an attempted bank robbery, a Hobbs Act robbery, and three counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

John Armstrong, 32, pleaded guilty Sept. 22. His co-defendants, Tanya Legg, 35, also of North Fort Myers, and Daniel Zirk, 24, of Spring Hill, previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced in December.

According to court documents, on June 14, 2019, Armstrong used a firearm to rob a 7-Eleven store in North Fort Myers. During this robbery, Armstrong struck one of the store employees in the face with his firearm. On July 31, 2019, Armstrong used a firearm to rob a Bank OZK in Punta Gorda, stealing more than $151,000 from the bank’s vault.

On Sept. 25, 2019, Armstrong and Zirk attempted to commit an armed robbery of a PNC Bank in Davenport. Zirk carjacked two vehicles earlier that morning, holding the victims at gunpoint. Armstrong and Zirk later used one of the carjacked vehicles as a getaway car following the attempted PNC Bank robbery. The robbery failed after the bank’s alarm went off. The following day, Armstrong, Zirk, and Legg robbed a BB&T Bank in Altamonte Springs, during which Armstrong and Zirk threatened to kill the bank employees and used firearms to force the employees to open the bank’s vault. They then stole approximately $22,000 in cash from the vault. Legg helped plan and purchase supplies for the BB&T Bank robbery and the attempted PNC Bank robbery. She also served as the getaway driver for these two robberies.

Legg was sentenced to 14 years while Zirk was sentenced to 22 years and 4 months.