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Press Release

Grand Island Man Pleads Guilty To Aggravated Bank Robbery

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Timothy L. Mulvey, 34, of Grand Island, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to two counts of aggravated bank robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Violanti, who is handling the case, stated that on June 27, 2018, the defendant entered the Northwest Savings Bank on Grand Island Boulevard on Grand Island and, wearing a disguise, approached the teller, displayed in his waistband a dangerous weapon that looked like a handgun, and demanded cash. Mulvey said to the teller, “you have 15 seconds to give me everything you have” and followed up stating “50’s and 100’s.” The victim teller passed the defendant approximately $2,044.00 in United States currency and Mulvey exited the bank. Thereafter, on July 11, 2018, the defendant entered the M&T Bank on Military Road in Niagara Falls. Wearing a disguise and carrying a bag, Mulvey approached the teller and demanded cash. The defendant told the victim teller “you have 30 seconds to give me everything” and pulled a dangerous weapon that looked like a black gun halfway out of his bag. The victim teller passed the defendant approximately $913.00 in United States currency, and Mulvey exited the bank.

At the time of the bank robberies, Mulvey was on New York State parole.  After the robbery, he met with his parole officer, Niagara Falls Police detectives, and members of the FBI for multiple interviews. During those interviews, the defendant provided conflicting and false information regarding his whereabouts on July 11, 2018. Mulvey also provided his cellphone to law enforcement and consented to its download. However, the defendant, with the assistance of his then girlfriend, attempted remotely to erase the phone while it was in the possession of law enforcement. When confronted about the wiping of his phone, Mulvey falsely blamed his employer. 

Between July 2018 and July 2019, while in the custody, the defendant’s telephone calls were subject to recording and monitoring. On July 22, 2018, Mulvey called his then girlfriend from jail and instructed her to search in the basement insulation of their shared residence and to take whatever she found and “Go find a dumpster somewhere and throw everything out.” The defendant told his girlfriend that New York State parole had planted something in the basement insulation “probably near the washer and dryer.” The girlfriend found a black gun wrapped in clear plastic and a black rectangular cartridge in the insulation of the basement ceiling. After discovering those items, the girlfriend went to Mulvey’s parents’ house and gave the gun to the defendant’s father, co-defendant Lawrence Mulvey. Soon thereafter, that gun, which had been used in the robbery of the M&T Bank on July 11, 2018, was thrown away. 

Mulvey made several other phone calls related to the investigation of the bank robberies to his then girlfriend, mother (co-defendant Cheryl Mulvey), and others. On a September 27, 2018, recorded jail call, the defendant instructed his girlfriend that if she were to speak to law enforcement again, she should tell them that she was drunk and coerced to give her prior statement. During a March 2, 2019, recorded jail call, Mulvey and his mother discussed Cheryl Mulvey’s pending grand jury appearance. The defendant stated, “You have the right to plead the Fifth. You don’t have to say anything to these people if you don’t want to.” On other calls during March 2019, Mulvey and his mother discussed his girlfriend and her relationship to the investigation. During one call, the defendant asked Cheryl Mulvey after her grand jury appearance, “Well, they, you made it pretty clear that she was drinking during this time, right?” 

Charges remain pending against Mulvey’s parents Lawrence and Cheryl, and his sister Kelsey for their roles in this case. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Kelsey Mulvey, a former nurse at Roswell Park Cancer Center, previously pleaded guilty in a separate case to tampering with a consumer product for stealing controlled medications from medication dispensing machines and is awaiting sentencing.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard, and the Niagara Falls Police Department, under the direction of Superintendent John Faso.

Timothy Mulvey is scheduled to be sentenced on September 2, 2021, before Judge Arcara.

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Updated May 20, 2021

Topic
Financial Fraud