Massachusetts Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Robbery
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 09, 2013 |
CONCORD, NH—Joseph Costello, 27, was sentenced in United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire to 30 months in prison for committing three bank robberies and one supermarket robbery in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, announced United States Attorney John P. Kacavas.
Costello’s method for committing each of the robberies was virtually identical. He presented a note to the teller or store employee indicating that a third party had placed a bomb in the building and would detonate the explosive unless the teller or employee provided Costello with money. Costello was eventually apprehended by the cooperative efforts of state and local law enforcement, aided by helpful citizen responses to the dissemination of surveillance photographs of Costello.
The case was investigated by the Salem, New Hampshire, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, North Andover, Massachusetts, and Reading, Massachusetts Police Departments, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth R. Aframe.