Bob Pilletto Best was sentenced on July 16 to 20 years in federal prison after being convicted of bank robbery for the second time. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced that Chief United States District Judge Kristine G. Baker handed down the sentence.
A federal grand jury indicted Best, age 60 and from Jacksonville, on April 1, 2025, with one count of bank robbery. Best pleaded guilty to the charge on January 8, 2026. In addition to his prison term, Chief Judge Baker ordered three years of supervised release and restitution to First Arkansas Bank & Trust for the amount stolen. There is no parole in the federal system.
According to court records, law enforcement officers from the Jacksonville Police Department responded to a robbery at First Arkansas Bank & Trust on February 6, 2025. Tellers described the robber as Best and said he entered the lobby appearing to look for something to write on before approaching a teller and claiming he had a firearm. He instructed her to hand over all $50 and $100 bills in her cash drawer; she gave him $5,300 before he fled through the front door.
Officers canvassed nearby areas after the incident and received information that led them to an apartment in Little Rock on February 7, where they found Best. Upon answering their knock at the door, Best stated, “I was the one who robbed the bank.” He repeated this admission during a later interview.
Best has prior convictions including a previous bank robbery conviction in Michigan in 2005 that resulted in a sentence of more than fourteen years’ imprisonment. His record also includes felony convictions for armed robbery, assault on a prison employee, second-degree forgery, forgery, and theft by receiving.
The investigation was conducted by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Jacksonville Police Department. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas prosecutes federal crimes and manages civil litigation across its jurisdiction spanning forty-one counties organized into Northern, Central and Delta divisions as part of its role within the U.S. Department of Justice; it also promotes community safety through victim assistance programs, according to its official website.