Albany Man Sentenced to 241 Months for Armed Bank Robberies

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Christopher J. Cohn, a/k/a “Wolf,” age 27, of Albany, was sentenced today to serve 241 months in prison for two armed bank robberies he committed in February 2019. 

The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon; Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Keith M. Corlett, Superintendent of the New York State Police; Chief Eric Hawkins of the Albany Police Department; and Chief David M. Keevern of the Town of North Greenbush Police Department.

Senior United States District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn also ordered Cohn to serve a 5-year term of supervised release following his term of incarceration, and to pay $193,863.57 in restitution to his victims.  Cohn was also ordered to forfeit $14,954 in recovered proceeds and $150,570 in unrecovered proceeds of the robberies.    

Acting U.S. Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon stated: “Christopher Cohn inflicted terror on everyone in the banks during the robberies and even fired a shot hitting an employee.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, Cohn will now spend many years in prison.  Our community is a safer place now that he has been held accountable for his shocking crimes.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Relford stated: “Mr. Cohn’s violent crimes terrorized bank employees, customers, and members of our community. The FBI is committed to working with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to address violent crimes, including bank robberies, within our communities. This 20+ year sentence should send a clear message to criminals that we will never waiver in our pursuit of justice.”

As part of his March 2020 guilty plea to armed bank robbery, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and related crimes, Cohn admitted to participating in two armed robberies.  On February 6, 2019, Cohn and another man drove to a Trustco Bank branch in Albany, where Cohn declared he was about to “go do this,” meaning that he planned to rob the bank.  Cohn and his accomplice then entered the bank wearing ski masks.  In the bank, Cohn’s accomplice displayed a gun, and both men threatened to kill the bank’s employees, who surrendered $150,570 to the pair. 

Cohn also admitted that on the morning of February 26, 2019, he and the same accomplice entered an M&T Bank branch in North Greenbush, each wearing a ski mask and brandishing a gun.  In the course of the robbery, Cohn fired multiple shots, including one that grazed a bank employee.  According to court documents, law enforcement tracked Cohn, his accomplice, and their getaway driver to an Albany motel using a GPS device that a bank employee had secretly placed with the stolen money.  Cohn was arrested by officers with more than $10,000 in cash and wearing red sneakers matching those depicted in bank surveillance footage.  Cohn’s accomplice was arrested in the motel’s lobby, where officers found him with several bags containing approximately $3,800 in cash along with ski masks matching those worn by the robbers.  

This case was investigated by the FBI, the New York State Police, the Town of North Greenbush Police Department, and the Albany Police Department, with the assistance of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office and the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua R. Rosenthal and Wayne A. Myers.