Man Who Threatented to Rob Bank with Explosives Sentenced
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 25, 2013 |
PHILADELPHIA—Dragos Ungurean, 30, of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for attempting to rob the Wyomissing branch of M&T Bank. He pleaded guilty to the charge on June 27, 2012. On March 19, 2012, Ungurean walked into the bank at 800 Penn Avenue in Wyomissing, threatened to blow up a bomb or explosive device attached to his person, and demanded money. Ungurean was subdued and handcuffed after a scuffle with an on-duty plain clothes investigator, George R. Bell, Jr., from the Wyomissing Police Department. The officer was utilizing the bank as a customer at the time of the attempted robbery. The bomb or explosive device was fake.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence F. Stengel ordered three years of supervised release and a $1,000 fine. The judge also referred to the actions of investigator Bell as “heroic” for subduing the defendant on his own.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Allentown, Pennsylvania Resident Agency; the Wyomissing, Berks County Police Department; and the Berks County District Attorney’s Office, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ewald Zittlau.