Bridgeport Man Sentenced to 90 Months' Imprisonment for Series of Multistate Bank Robberies

BOSTON, MA—A Bridgeport, CT man was sentenced today in federal court for conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and armed bank robbery.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division; Chief John R. Ferraro, Jr. of Police of the Chicopee Police Department; Colonel Marco Palombo, Chief of the Cranston, Rhode Island Police Department; Commissioner Richard Dormer of the Suffolk County Police Department; and Chief Anthony R. Scott of Police of the Holyoke Police Department announced today that RICHARD DUCRAN, age 28, of Bridgeport, CT, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 90 months imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release, restitution of $268,998.95 and forfeiture of $268,998.95. DUCRAN pled guilty to a superseding information charging one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, three counts of armed bank robbery, and one count of attempted armed bank robbery on November 6, 2009.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that between March 23, 2007 and May 3, 2008, DUCRAN and two co-conspirators all engaged in four bank robberies in three different states, causing a total loss of $268,998.95. On March 23, 2007, DUCRAN and his co-conspirators robbed the Berkshire Bank in Chicopee, MA, taking $25,974.00. On June 30, 2007, DUCRAN and his co-conspirators robbed the Sovereign Bank in Cranston, RI, taking $27,253.95. On July 28, 2007, DUCRAN and his co-conspirators robbed the North Fork Bank in Deer Park, NY, taking $215,771.00. Finally, on May 3, 2008 DUCRAN and his co-conspirators attempted to rob the Bank of Western Massachusetts in Holyoke, MA, but obtained no money. For each of the robberies, all three co-conspirators brandished pellet guns resembling authentic firearms, threatened to shoot bank employees, and wore hats and/or glasses that obscured their faces. In the Chicopee robbery, one co-conspirator beat and struck a bank customer who attempted to flee.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Chicopee Police Department, the Cranston, Rhode Island Police Department, the Suffolk County, New York, Police Department and the Holyoke Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven H. Breslow and Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office.