Hudson County Man Sentenced to 43 Months in Prison for Robbing Springfield, New Jersey Investors Savings Bank

TRENTON, NJ—A West New York, Hudson County, N.J., man was sentenced today to 43 months in prison for robbing an Investors Savings Bank in Springfield, N.J., on March 2, 2009, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Philip A. Tatis, 44, a Colombian citizen, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with robbing the bank of $30,000. He entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan, who also imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Tatis walked into the bank on March 2, 2009, and approached a bank teller with a note which stated that a bank customer had been kidnapped by Tatis and his partner at gunpoint and that the teller must give him $30,000 in less than two minutes. The teller complied with the note and Tatis fled the bank with the money. In reality, Tatis had no partner in the bank robbery and had not taken a hostage.

The defendant was not identified until January 25, 2010, when his roommate in West New York reported that Tatis was in their apartment with a gun and had been writing a note for the purpose of robbing another bank. Tatis was arrested that same day at his residence after a standoff with law enforcement.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Tatis to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $30,000 in restitution to the bank.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent In Charge Michael B. Ward; the West New York Police and Fire Departments; and the Springfield Police Department for their work leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zahid N. Quraishi of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Lisa Mack Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark, N.J.