Man charged with holding up same Minnesota bank he just got out of prison for robbing

A 51-year-old man faces federal charges for robbing the same central Minnesota bank he was convicted of holding up more than a decade ago.

James Richard Ardito, of Andover, was charged with armed bank robbery in U.S. District Court Tuesday for holding up federally insured Deerwood Bank in Garrison, Minn. in July. He made off with about $400, according to federal charges.

Crow Wing County prosecutors also charged Ardito for aggravated robbery and illegal gun possession earlier this year for the same incident. He is currently incarcerated in Sherburne County jail.

Ardito was convicted in 2009 for taking about $3,000 at gunpoint from the same bank. According to the Brainerd Dispatch, he escaped a halfway house in 2018, where he was living on supervised release from the previous bank robbery conviction.

Andy Mannix • 612-673-4036