New Hampshire Man Sentenced to 41 Months for Aiding Bank Robber

PORTLAND, ME—United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty, II announced today that Neil West Sr., 61, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Nancy Torresen to 41 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for being an accessory after the fact to bank robbery. An accessory after the fact is a person who aids a felon.

Court records reveal that on the morning of November 19, 2011, West borrowed a car from his employer and drove Bernie Subocz and his girlfriend from New Hampshire to Maine so that Subocz could rob a bank. Subocz directed West to the Wells Plaza shopping center in Wells. Once there, Subocz told West to keep the car running while he got out and went into the Bank of America branch office. Subocz entered the bank where a manager and two tellers were working. Subocz pulled a knit hat down over his face and the hood of his sweatshirt over his head to disguise his identity. Subocz held one hand inside his pocket as if he had a weapon. He announced that he was there to rob the bank, demanded cash, and scolded tellers for trying to activate the alarm. Subocz absconded with $4,228, returned to that car in which West was waiting, and had West drive him back to New Hampshire. For his role in the robbery, West was paid with stolen cash.

In pronouncing sentence, Judge Torresen observed that West acted as the getaway driver and that bank robbery is a serious crime that is traumatic for tellers and that puts others at risk.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Police Departments of York, Wells, Kennebunk, and Kittery, Maine; and Manchester, Bedford, and New London, New Hampshire.