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Press Release

West Warwick Resident Sentenced to Federal Prison for Bank Robbery

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – John Ryder, 29, of West Warwick, was sentenced today to 36 months in federal prison for robbing a BankRI branch office in Coventry of more than $6,000 in cash, while wielding a machete, on May 2, 2016.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E Smith also ordered Ryder to serve 3 years supervised release upon completion of his prison term and pay full restitution to BankRI. Ryder pleaded guilty on October 31, 2016, to bank robbery by force, violence and intimidation.

Ryder’s sentence is announced by Acting United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch; Coventry Police Chief John S. MacDonald; and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office of the FBI.

At the time of his guilty plea, Ryder admitted to the court that beginning on April 29, 2016, and on the days leading up to the robbery, he spent a considerable amount of time in and around a shopping plaza where the bank is located and in a wooded area directly behind the plaza. Ryder admitted to the court that on May 2, 2016, he entered the bank carrying a machete which he wielded while demanding cash from bank tellers. After robbing the bank of $5,937, he fled into the wooded area behind the shopping plaza.

Ryder was arrested by Coventry Police Detectives and FBI agents, with the assistance of the West Warwick Police Department, on May 13, 2016.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah.

 

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Contact

Jim Martin (401) 709-5357
email: USARI.Media@usdoj.gov
on Twitter @USAO_RI

Updated June 7, 2017

Topic
Violent Crime
Press Release Number: 17-54