“Bearded Bandit” Bank Robber Sentenced for New Year’s Eve 2019 Robbery

PROVIDENCE, RI – A Cranston man, previously referred to as the “Bearded Bandit,” and who served more than six years in federal prison for robbing nine banks in 2012, was sentenced on Friday to time served (62 months) for robbing an East Providence bank on New Year’s Eve in December 2019, and for violating the terms of his supervised release related to his previous convictions, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

Justin Worley, 44, was sentenced on Friday by U.S. District Court Senior Judge William E. Smith. In addition to the imposition of a sentence of times served, Worley is ordered to serve a term of three years of supervised release, the first six months in a residential reentry center. Additionally, he was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $11,569.

Worley pleaded guilty on October 30, 2024, to charges of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and bank robbery. He has been detained since his arrest on January 21, 2020.

In pleading guilty, Worley admitted to the court that on New Year’s Eve Day in December 2019,  he and a co-defendant approached bank tellers inside an East Providence bank branch and demanded that they empty their money drawers. The second man, Nicholas Lage, 39, brandished a knife during the robbery. Between them, the two men fled the bank with approximately $11,569. They were located and arrested later that evening at Twin River casino.

The court found that Worley violated the terms of his federal supervised release imposed at sentencing related to his conviction for robbing nine banks in 2012.

Nicholas Lage pleaded guilty on April 1, 2021, to charges of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and bank robbery.  He was sentenced on August 6, 2021, to 36 months of incarceration to be followed by three years of federal supervised release.

The cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald R. Gendron.

The matter was investigated by the East Providence Police Department and the FBI.

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