Utica Man Pleads Guilty To Three Bank Robberies

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Calvin Stephon Moore, age 50, of Utica, pleaded guilty today to three counts of bank robbery, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Andrew W. Vale, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Moore faces up to 20 years of imprisonment, up to three years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine when he is sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy on February 10, 2016 in Albany.

Moore committed bank robberies in Schenectady, Utica and Columbia, South Carolina.

On November 17, 2014, Moore and another man robbed a KeyBank branch in Schenectady. During the robbery, Moore stated to a teller, “this is a hold up give me money.” The two robbers fled the bank with $5,035. Schenectady Police found and arrested Moore’s accomplice near the bank; the accomplice had a backpack containing the stolen money and a copy of Moore’s birth certificate.

The following day, Moore robbed an Adirondack Bank branch in Utica. He handed the teller a demand note, which stated: “THIS IS A ROBBERY. I HAVE A GUN AND WILL SHOOT IF YOU TRY ANYTHING. PUT ALL THE LOOSE BILLS (EVERY DENOMINATION) IN THE BAG … NO DYE PACK OR TRACERS OR I WILL SHOOT!” Moore fled the bank with $1,647.

Moore then traveled to South Carolina.

On December 30, 2014, Moore entered a First Citizens Bank branch in Columbia. He approached a teller and presented a note in which he demanded money. He also told the teller he had a gun. Moore fled the bank with $1,271, into which a teller had placed an exploding dye pack.

On the evening of December 30, officers from the Cayce, South Carolina, Police Department responded to a report of a person at a motel tossing a suspicious item over a fence and into a parking lot. The item was a bank dye pack and several $20 bills.

Officers set up a perimeter near the motel and began identifying people in the area. One person they stopped was Moore, who, when his identification was checked, was found to have a federal arrest warrant for bank robberies committed in the Northern District of New York.

Officers determined that Moore was staying at the motel that had called the police, and obtained and executed a search warrant for Moore’s room. Officers recovered about $965 in U.S. currency; the serial numbers on some of this currency matched the serial numbers of some of the currency taken earlier in the day from the First Citizens Bank branch.

The investigation into the Schenectady and Utica robberies was conducted by the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Schenectady and Utica Police Departments.

The investigation into the Columbia, South Carolina robbery was conducted by the Columbia Division of the FBI, and the Columbia and Cayce Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Barnett of the Northern District of New York, and by Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin N. Garner of the District of South Carolina.