Plainfield, N.J., Woman Admits She Was Lookout, Getaway Driver For Armed Bank Robberies

NEWARK, N.J. – A Plainfield, N.J., woman admitted today to playing a role in three armed robberies of banks in Somerset and Middlesex, N.J., U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Andrea Dorsey, 54, of Plainfield, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court to an information charging her with three counts of bank robbery.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Claude Williams, 61, of Elizabeth, N.J., was charged in July 2012 by superseding complaint with six counts of bank robbery and two counts of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Those charges remain pending.

Williams would usually send an accomplice into banks shortly before robbing them. Dorsey admitted she went into banks to gather information for Williams about how many employees were working and served as the getaway driver during the armed robberies of the Financial Resources Federal Credit Union located in Somerset, N.J., on Sept. 26, 2011, and the Somerset Savings Bank located in Somerville, N.J., on Nov. 21, 2011.

Williams and Dorsey were arrested on July 30, 2012, blocks from a Unity Bank in Somerset. Williams was wearing a bandana and law enforcement found a handgun and white gloves in the car.

Dorsey faces a maximum potential penalty of 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense, on each of the three counts. Sentencing is currently scheduled for Oct. 30, 2013.

The charges and allegations contained in the superseding complaint against Williams are merely accusations and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation. He also thanked the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office and the Middlesex Borough, Piscataway, Clifton, Metuchen, North Plainfield and Plainfield Police Departments for their excellent work.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Osmar J. Benvenuto of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Anthony J. Iacullo Esq., Nutley, N.J.

Dorsey, Andrea Information