Berwick Resident Sentenced to 22 Years on Armed Bank Robbery and Firearms Charges

Contact: Donald E. Clark
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Phillip
G. Gage, 47, of Berwick, Maine, was sentenced to 22 years in prison and five years of
supervised release for armed bank robbery, being a felon in possession of a firearm and using a
firearm during the commission of a bank robbery. He was also ordered to pay $20,054 in
restitution. The charges arise from the August 21, 2013 armed bank robbery of Citizen’s Bank,
in Somersworth, New Hampshire; the October 7, 2013 armed bank robbery of Peoples United
Bank, in Exeter, New Hampshire; the October 19, 2013 armed bank robbery of Kennebunk
Savings in Eliot, Maine; and the October 26, 2013 armed bank robbery of the Ocean
Communities Federal Credit Union in Sanford, Maine. Gage pled guilty to the charges on March
4, 2014.

According to court records, during the Citizen’s Bank robbery, Gage displayed a demand
note that read in part: “I have a bomb and a gun if you say a word you will die” and absconded
with $3,132.80. In the People’s United robbery, Gage’s demand note read in part: "There's a
bomb in the trash can, keep it quiet" and absconded with $1,451. During the Kennebunk Savings
robbery, Gage pointed a Ruger Red Hawk .44 Magnum revolver at tellers while, an associate,
Daniel Barry, vaulted over the teller counter and took $7,896 from teller drawers. During the
Ocean Communities Federal Credit Union robbery, Gage pointed a Dan Wesson .22 caliber
revolver at tellers and absconded with $8,574.

Gage was convicted of the following felonies: robbery in Florida in 1986, assault in
Maine in 1999, possession of a firearm by a felon in Maine in 1999 and attempting to commit a
Class B crime in Maine in 2002. As a result, Gage received an enhanced sentence as an armed
career criminal.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Maine State
Police, and the Eliot, Kittery, Sanford, Berwick, York, Maine and Exeter, Somersworth, Alton
and Pembroke, New Hampshire police departments. U.S. Attorney Delahanty praised the
cooperation among these law enforcement agencies noting that “these armed bank robberies
were quickly solved because local, state, county and federal law enforcement agencies across
two states worked closely together.”