Middletown Man Sentenced to 6 Years in Federal Prison for Bank Robbery Spree in 2015

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that MATTHEW DRAGONE, 32, of Middletown, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 72 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for robbing six banks, and attempting to rob a seventh bank, in 2015.

According to court documents and statements made in court, DRAGONE robbed the Webster Bank at 145 Highland Avenue in Cheshire on August 12, 2015; the TD Bank at 1127 Farmington Avenue in Berlin on August 13, 2015; the Liberty Bank at 151 Main Street in Deep River on August 17, 2015; the TD Bank at 25 Wells Road in Wethersfield on August 31, 2015; the Webster Bank at 377 Cromwell Avenue in Rocky Hill on September 9, 2015 (attempt); the Liberty Bank at 357 Main Street in Durham on September 3, 2015, and the TD Bank at 184 Clinton Road in Killingworth on September 11, 2015. During each of the robberies, DRAGONE, wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglasses and holding a cellphone to his ear, presented a teller with a bank-style bag affixed with a note that demanded money.

On September 16, 2015, a search of DRAGONE’s residence revealed clothing and sunglasses consistent with those worn during the Durham robbery on September 3, as well as a bank-style bag consistent with the one used during several of the bank robberies.

DRAGONE was arrested on September 18, 2015. On February 16, 2016, he pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Connecticut State Police and the Middletown, Cheshire, Berlin, Wethersfield, and Rocky Hill Police Departments, with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Division of Scientific Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas P. Morabito.