News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
Peter F. Neronha
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
February 22, 2011
Man Sentenced for Bank Robberies
Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Robert Ferguson, 48, of Lowell, Massachusetts was sentenced on February 22, 2011, in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Maine, to 121 months imprisonment, 5 years supervised release, and a special assessment of $1,100. Ferguson was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $81,059 to the institutions he robbed. Ferguson pleaded guilty on October 1, 2010 to four counts of bank robbery, two counts of credit union robbery, four counts of armed bank robbery and one count of armed credit union robbery.
Mr. Ferguson began his robbery spree on April 9, 2010 in Buffalo, New York. Over April, May, June, and July, he robbed ten more institutions in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The last bank he robbed was the Bangor Savings Bank in Orono, Maine on July 13, 2010.
The Orono and Bangor Police Departments and the FBI responded to the robbery of the Bangor Savings Bank. Ferguson was taken into custody on July 14, 2010, the day after he robbed the bank, thanks to information received from concerned citizens who recognized Ferguson from surveillance photos shown on local news broadcasts.
According to court records, Ferguson’s robberies were remarkably consistent. He entered a bank or credit union, demanded money, alluded to or showed a gun, and threatened to kill the banks’ employees if they did not do what he asked. He wore various disguises and always left on foot, walking to a vehicle some distance away. Bank robbery, especially where a gun is used, is particularly traumatizing to the bank’s employees.
United States Attorney Delahanty praised the cooperation among and the investigation conducted by the FBI, and the Police Departments of Orono and Bangor, Maine; Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Tewksbury, Tyngsboro, Fitchburg, and North Attleboro, Massachusetts; Warwick, Rhode Island; and Londonderry, Hampstead and Merrimack, New Hampshire.
# # #
Contact: Nancy Torresen
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 945-0373
