Crime Novelist Who Robbed Banks in Rolls Royce Arrested After Fleeing MGM Grand Detroit

Posted on: March 20, 2025, 04:03h. 

Last updated on: March 20, 2025, 04:07h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Ex-convict and crime novelist resumes bank robberies after February 2024 release.
  • Auhorities link Sykes to recent Detroit-area heists.
  • Escaped from MGM Grand in Rolls Royce

A serial bank robber who used a Rolls-Royce as a getaway car and was seen fleeing from the MGM Grand Detroit in the same luxury vehicle while pursued by cops last week was in custody Tuesday.

Dorian Sykes, bank robbery, Rolls-Royce getaway, crime novelist
Dorian Sykes, crime novelist and convicted bank robber, was arrested after robbing two Detroit-area banks in March 2024. (Image: Warren Police Department)

Dorian Trevor Sykes, 41, who also dabbles in writing crime novels, is accused of robbing two Detroit-area banks: the Credit Union One in Sterling Heights on March 6 and a Chase branch in Lathrup Village on March 12.

In the March 12 incident, a man walked into the bank and gave a teller a withdrawal slip, which stated, “Give me all the money … I have a gun … I will kill everyone in here,” according to prosecutors.

Security footage from the street then showed a man fitting the robber’s description run behind an apartment complex and get into a white Rolls-Royce SUV before speeding away.

Sykes apparently invested some of the money from the first alleged robbery into renting the “Roller” from a local dealership. He made a total of $13,569 from the two raids, according to prosecutors.

Criminal History

Sykes has a history of bank robbery that goes back to at least 2002, when he and two co-defendants stole almost $200,000 during an armed raid on a Fifth Third Bank branch, according to court documents.

In 2005, at just 19 years old, he was convicted of bank robbery, using a firearm during a crime of violence, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and perjury, and was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison.

Released in 2019, Sykes briefly became homeless before moving in with an aunt. But within six weeks, he was back to his old tricks.

On August 13, 2019, he was arrested at the craps table at MotorCity Casino, wearing the same clothes that he had on when he allegedly committed two bank robberies a day prior.

Sykes was sentenced to five more years in prison for those crimes and was released in February 2024.

Following the Lathrup Village robbery, police tracked Sykes to the MGM Grand Detroit via his cellphone. But when they moved in on him, he sped away in his Rolls-Royce. Despite the conspicuousness of his vehicle, he remained free until his arrest Tuesday, the details of which are unclear.

Prolific Author

Sykes’ literary output is almost as prolific as his bank robbery. He has published nine novels since 2011, including King of Detroit, The Good Life, Going All Out, and Born to Die.

Some of these were published by Urban Books, a publishing company headed by New York Times best-selling author Carl Weber.

In a letter to his judge ahead of his 2019 sentencing, Sykes described himself as someone who had left prison “institutionalized, […] psychologically scarred, and unable to adapt to the changes in society.”

He faces up to 20 years if convicted.