Pewaukee Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Bank Robbery
Mathew Carl Koski Pleaded Guilty to Robbing Four Banks in Wisconsin
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 21, 2011 |
MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Mathew Carl Koski, 57, Pewaukee, Wis., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 70 months in federal prison, without the possibility of parole, for bank robbery. Koski’s sentence will be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. Koski pleaded guilty to this charge on April 21, 2011.
Koski robbed the Park Bank in Fitchburg on January 14, 2011 of approximately $5,625, by presenting a demand note which claimed, among other things, that bombs were planted in the lobby and outside the front entrances of the bank. The note also threatened that no one should follow or call the police until five minutes after the robbery. After the robbery, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad was called to the bank and no bombs were located.
Law enforcement officers located the defendant’s vehicle traveling on Interstate 94, where a chase in excess of 85 miles per hour ensued in snowy and icy conditions. During the chase, the police recovered a bag which had been thrown from the vehicle. The bag contained the stolen Park Bank money and .357 Taurus handgun. The defendant was arrested after his vehicle was eventually stopped using spike strips.
As part of the agreement with the government, Koski was also sentenced for the robbery of three other banks in the Eastern District of Wisconsin using similar demand notes: the PNC bank in West Allis, Wis. of approximately $5,113 on November 29, 2010, the American bank in Fond du Lac, Wis., of approximately $5,000 on December 20, 2010, and the Anchor Bank in the Town of Grand Chute, Wis., of $4,021 on December 30, 2010.
The conviction of Koski was the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Fitchburg Police Department, Town of Oconomowoc Police Department, Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, Delafield Police Department, Village of Hartland Police Department, West Allis Police Department, Fond du Lac Police Department, and Town of Grand Chute Police Department. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz.