Man Pleads Guilty to Five Bank Robberies

BUFFALO, NY—Rashawn Maurice Smith, 31, of Buffalo, New York and Jamestown, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny to five Bank Robberies, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York announced today. Bank Robbery carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the cases, stated that between April 2007 and July 2007, the defendant admitted that he robbed seven banks in the Jamestown, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Erie, Pennsylvania area. The defendant received a total of approximately $39,000 from those robberies. Grisanti stated the five bank robberies occurred over a two-week period in July of 2007 and that Smith carried a knife during one of the robberies and a pellet gun during another one. No one was injured during any of the robberies.

The plea was the culmination of a joint investigation on the part of the Jamestown, New York Police Department under the direction of Chief Rexford Rater; the Erie, Pennsylvania Police Department under the direction of Chief Stephen Franklin; the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Police Department under the direction of Chief Nathan Harper and special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Laurie Bennett, Special Agent In Charge.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 17, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. EST, in Buffalo, N.Y., in front of U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.