SALT LAKE CITY — A 24-year-old Ogden man has pleaded guilty to robbing a credit union, admitting that he and others spent the loot gambling.

Jesse James Perea agreed to a plea bargain in which the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to recommend that he be sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, rather than the 20-year potential maximum sentence.

According to plea documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, Perea admitted that on Jan. 15, 2021, he went into the America First Credit Union branch at 1979 Washington Blvd. and handed a note to a teller demanding $20,000.

The teller took money out of her drawer and gave it to Perea, a sum of $2,399. “I, and others, spent the money gambling in Wendover, Nevada,” Perea said in the plea deal.

Perea’s sentencing by Judge Dale Kimball on the charge of felony credit union robbery is scheduled for Sept. 12. Perea, who is serving Utah prison time after a probation violation, is held out of state.

A co-defendant, Allison Bennett, 22, of Ogden, was arrested in April on a felony charge of aiding and abetting the robbery. Bennett is held at the Salt Lake County Jail pending trial.

Newsletter