Buffalo Man Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison For Role As Getaway Driver In Tonawanda Bank Robbery

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Nicholas Graham, 46, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of aiding and abetting a bank robbery by use of a dangerous weapon, was sentenced to 84 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph P. Geraci, Jr.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Adler, who handled the case, stated that on January 8, 2016, the defendant assisted two other individuals in a bank robbery at the Evans Bank located at 2800 Niagara Falls Boulevard in Tonawanda, New York. Graham drove the individuals to the bank in a 2007 Infiniti around 5:45 p.m. The defendant remained in the vehicle and acted as both the lookout and the getaway driver.

During the robbery, the two masked individuals wore nearly identical uniforms including dark tan jackets with hoods, dark colored baseball caps, dark colored masks, and tan pants. Once inside the bank, the masked robbers aimed BB guns, that appeared to be real pistols, at customers and employees and ordered them to get down so that nobody would get hurt.

Following the robbery, law enforcement officers tracked the defendant and the two individuals to the Scottish Inn Motel on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Graham was detained at the motel, while the robbers fled and remain fugitives. Officers found items at the motel including cash, clothing worn by the robbers, the BB guns, receipts for the purchase of the guns, and several identification cards.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen and the Town of Tonawanda Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jerome C. Uschold.