Convicted bank robber-turned-crime novelist arrested after allegedly robbing bank - again

Charles Christopher Martinez, a convicted Colorado bank robber-turned-crime novelist, was arrested after allegedly robbing bank, again. (KCNC/Denver Police Department via CNN Newsource)

DENVER, Colorado -- A Colorado man who served a decade-and-a-half prison sentence and wrote a book about his experience may be headed back to prison.

Charles Christopher Martinez was arrested Jan. 8 on bank robbery charges. The 48-year-old Arvada resident is suspected of being the person who held up the US Bank on Colorado Boulevard in Denver three days earlier.

Authorities say that robber, dressed in a bright orange jacket with “Tech Ops” wording on the back, demanded money from a teller and ran away. The jacket was found by responding officers.

The Denver Police Department and the FBI local office distributed surveillance photos of the robber hours after the incident.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed for CBS Colorado that Martinez was previously incarcerated for bank robbery in Colorado. He was also identified as the author of “The Life Of An Outlaw” published in 2018. The crime biography detailed Martinez’s bank robbery conviction. It also told about the criminal gang connections he used to survive detention in “some of the most ruthless and bloody prisons the American Justice system has to offer,” as stated on the book’s website.

Martinez later published at least one additional crime-based fiction novel before his recent arrest.

Martinez is currently in the Denver Jail awaiting a Feb. 3 court hearing on state charges. Bank robbery, however, is a federal offense, and the case will likely be transferred to a federal court in Denver.

By Logan Smith