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A Derwood man was sentenced to almost seven years in prison plus three years of supervised release following his guilty plea to two counts of bank robbery, U. S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced in a statement Friday.

During his sentencing hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Judge Peter J. Messitte also ordered Derrick Aylor, 26, who violated his supervised release for a previous bank robbery conviction in California, to pay $2,230 in restitution.

Aylor pleaded guilty to the two counts of bank robbery on Jan. 7, said Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U. S. Attorney's office.

In the first robbery, on April 21, 2008, of a BB&T Bank branch at 16541 River Ridge Blvd. in Woodbridge, Va., Aylor handed the teller a note stating, "This is a robbery give me all your 100s in top and bottom drawer." He netted $1,018 and fled the bank with the cash, but not before surveillance video captured a clear image of his face, federal officials reported.

An associate of Aylor's identified him and a fingerprint left at the scene on the demand note matched a known fingerprint from Aylor.

Eight days later, Aylor robbed the Chevy Chase Bank branch in the Giant Food store at 12051 Rockville Pike in Rockville. He once again handed the teller a note demanding cash and stole $1,212, but the teller was able to hide a dye pack with the money, federal officials reported.

The packet exploded after Aylor left the bank, covering his hands and clothes as he fled in a taxicab. The cab driver kicked him out, and Aylor entered several nearby stores in an effort to obtain clothing and possibly call a friend for help, federal officials reported.

He was able to get away before police arrived. However, surveillance cameras captured the incident, and an associate and a Montgomery County police officer familiar with Aylor was able to identify him as the person in the video, federal officials reported.

"There are many ways to catch a bank robber and it's not very smart to commit that crime," Rosenstein said in a phone interview.

Bank robbers can be apprehended by identifying fingerprints, speaking to witnesses, looking at surveillance footage, using dye packs and by tracing the serial numbers of bills, he said.

Two fingerprints recovered from the second demand note also matched Aylor's known fingerprints.

Aylor was able to evade police until May 1, 2008, when FBI agents arrested him in Ranson, W. Va., federal officials reported. When Aylor was found, he had blisters on his right hand from the dye and his cigarette lighter had dye on it as well.