Escaped prisoner indicted on bank robbery, kidnapping and firearms charges
A hospitalized Virginia inmate who overpowered and kidnapped a guard, took her weapon and led authorities on a wild manhunt has been indicted by a federal grand jury on various charges Thursday.
Wossen Assaye, 43, has been charged with bank robbery, bank burglary, escape, kidnapping, assault and related firearms offenses.
Back in March, Assaye was in federal custody on bank robbery charges. He was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital after a suicide attempt in jail. After overpowering a guard and escaping from the hospital, he led authorities on a nine-hour search that involved two carjackings before he was captured in Washington D.C.
The indictment charges Assaye of being the "bicycle bandit" who robbed five banks in northern Virginia, displaying a weapon in two of them. He is also charged with entering another bank with the intent of committing robbery and larceny.
Assaye is also charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm after being convicted of eight violent felonies.
He is facing a minimum of 122 years in prison if convicted.