Amir Bland convicted of Aurora Movie Tavern robbery

AURORA | A man police say robbed an Aurora movie theater and restaurant last year, holding seven employees at gunpoint before bolting with $7,000, has been convicted of 18 felony counts, prosecutors said Thursday.

Amir Bland, 34, faces between 77 and 107 years in prison at his sentencing in May after Wednesday’s conviction on kidnapping, aggravated robbery, menacing and conspiracy charges.

According to a statement from Arapahoe County prosecutors, Bland and another person donned masks and brandished guns during the January 2012 robbery of Movie Tavern, 18605 E. Hampden Ave.

The robbers confronted seven employees inside, held them at gunpoint and took money from the employees, the safe and cash registers, prosecutors said.

In less than two minutes, the robbers made off with more than $7,000 in cash.

Bland led the police on a high speed chase but was eventually arrested. When police nabbed Bland, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and had a gun holster on his hip, prosecutors said.

Sgt. Cassidee Carlson, a spokeswoman for Aurora police, said investigators believe they have identified the second suspect and plan to file charges against them in the coming weeks.

In a statement Thursday, the prosecutors, Sybille Clark and Chelsea Koch said: “This crime was solved due to the very quick response time of the first responding officers from the Aurora Police department and all the other officers that helped to investigate this crime.”

District Attorney George Brauchler said: “This is the ideal outcome achieved by vigilant police work and a deliberate and determined prosecution by our prosecutors. Together, they achieved justice for seven Aurora citizens terrorized by two violent perpetrators.”

According to state records, Bland has been arrested several times in Colorado since 2001, but his record is free of serious convictions. Assault charges against him in 2003 and 2008 were eventually dropped, and he was found not guilty in a 2010 assault and menacing case. He was also arrested on felony assault charges in 2001, but the outcome of that case wasn’t immediately clear from state records.

Bland has been held in the Arapahoe County Jail since his arrest in 2012, according to jail records.