A convicted thief who detailed his past bank heist and conviction in a self-published autobiography was accused of robbing yet another bank in Colorado early this month.
Charles Christopher Martinez, 48, was nabbed on Jan. 8, three days after he allegedly held up a teller at the US Bank in Denver, according to authorities.
Martinez allegedly demanded money from the teller before fleeing the bank, though it’s unclear how much cash he was able to grab, if any.
The Denver Police Department and the FBI Denver office posted a “Crime Alert” with pictures of the suspect — a middle-aged male wearing a bright orange jacket, a floppy black beanie, and gray sweatpants.
Cops later ID’d the suspect as the self-professed true crime author and officially announced his arrest in an update on Jan. 12.
Martinez penned an autobiography, “The Life Of An Outlaw,” in 2018, which provided an inside look at his previous bank heist and his membership in the Surenos, a prison gang he claimed was run by the Mexican mafia.
In the book description, Martinez wrote that he had to use his connections to survive imprisonment in “some of the most ruthless and bloody prisons the American Justice system has to offer” in the “dog eat dog world of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.”
“Follow the true events of a real life bank robber, dive into the world of the federal prison system where life is never guaranteed,” Martinez teases in his book’s summary.
Martinez cited acclaimed authors like John Grisham, Bernard Cornwell, and Ken Follet as his personal literary inspirations. His autobiography has a single — yet glowing — review on GoodReads from a woman whose son was “raised by the California corrections institute.”
“This story really hit home..thank you for being so brave by sharing your story..may God bless you and keep you safe,” she wrote.
The author was booked in the Denver Jail and is expected to be in court on Feb. 3. Bank robbery is a federal offense punishable by upwards of 20 years in prison, so his case will likely be transferred to a federal court in Denver.
