By Ian Holmes

Prolific Nanaimo bank robber gets lengthy prison term

Apr 30, 2019 | 1:58 PM

NANAIMO — A man who robbed three Nanaimo banks, including two in one week, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Daniel William Harlow, 47, will serve six years and nine months in a federal penitentiary with credit for time served. He was sentenced at provincial court in Nanaimo on Tuesday, April 30, after pleading guilty last month.

Harlow robbed the north Nanaimo CIBC  on Oct. 29 and the TD Canada Trust on Dufferin Cres. on Nov 1. He committed the same crime at the TD Canada Trust location at Terminal Park in February 2018.

He was also convicted of an Oct. 14, 2018 bank robbery in Surrey.

Crown prosecutor Basil McCormick said the robbery of the Dufferin Cres. TD Canada Trust robbery last fall was the most serious of the crimes.

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McCormick read out a threatening note produced by Harlow during the robbery.

“Do not show this to anybody. Do not dye pack or trace it back or I will blow the head off of the first innocent people I see and then yours as well. I want $50,000 and I have a gun and I will kill you if I have to.”

Harlow was arrested soon after in downtown Nanaimo after taking off in a taxi cab.

McCormick said Harlow had a replica gun during the robbery and was taken into custody with other weapons.

No one was injured and no weapons were ever produced by Harlow.

Two victim impact statements provided by bank tellers involved in two of the Nanaimo robberies were submitted.

All three bank fall 2018 bank robberies were committed while Harlow was free on bail.

Harlow’s criminal record is lengthy. McCormick noted 11 robbery convictions, including one involving a gun in 1999.

He was previously sentenced to six years behind bars in 2009 for six robberies.

Harlow’s lawyer Bobby Movassaghi said his client’s actions were primarily fuelled by a drug addiction.

The offender declined to address the court.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes