Four-time Bank Robber Sentenced to 92 Months in Prison

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Vaughn Watrous, 39, of Providence, was sentenced on Thursday to 92 months in federal prison for robbing four banks in four days in February 2013.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., also ordered Watrous to serve one year of supervised release upon completion of his prison term and to pay restitution totaling $4,850 dollars to the banks he admitted to robbing. Watrous pleaded guilty on October 16, 2015 to four counts of bank robbery.

Watrous’ sentence is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha, Cranston Police Chief Colonel Michael J. Winquist, Providence Police Chief Colonel Hugh T. Clements, Jr., and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office of the FBI.

At the time of his guilty plea, Watrous admitted to the court that on consecutive dates beginning on February 11, 2013, he robbed Sovereign Bank branch offices on North Main Street in Providence, Atwells Avenue in Providence, and on Reservoir Avenue in Cranston. He also admitted that on February 14, 2013, he robbed a Citizens Bank branch office located inside a supermarket on Garfield Avenue in Cranston.

In each instance, Watrous passed a note to a bank teller announcing the robbery, demanding large bills and instructing tellers not to trigger the bank alarm. Cranston police officers responding to the robbery of the Citizens Bank branch office observed the defendant in the vicinity of the bank and detained him. As they did, a large pile of cash fell to the ground. Additionally, officers recovered $690 hidden inside Watrous’ left shoe and $320 from his pockets.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker.

The robberies were investigated by officers and detectives from the Cranston and Providence Police Departments, with the assistance of agents from the FBI.

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