Skip to main content
Press Release

Two Middletown Residents Charged with Robbing People's United Banks at Stop & Shop Supermarkets

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

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Special Agent in Charge David Sundberg of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Middletown Police Chief Erik M. Costa, Glastonbury Police Chief Marshall Porter, Newington Police Chief Stephen Clark, and West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick, Jr., today announced that GINO RIZZO, 28, and JALANIA PANTANO, 27, both of Middletown, were arrested yesterday on an indictment charging them with bank robbery offenses.

The FBI and several local police departments have been investigating multiple robberies that occurred this summer at People’s United Bank branches located in Stop & Shop supermarkets in Connecticut.  The indictment alleges that Rizzo robbed People’s United Bank branches located in Stop & Shop supermarkets in Glastonbury on July 16 and in Newington on July 18, and that Rizzo and Pantano robbed a People’s United Bank branch located in a Stop & Shop in West Hartford on July 20.

The three-count indictment was returned by a grand jury in Bridgeport on August 17.  Rizzo and Pantano appeared yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia in New Haven and were ordered detained.

The charge of bank robbery carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Middletown, Glastonbury, Newington and West Hartford Departments.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie T. Levick and Robert Dearington.

Updated August 31, 2022

Topic
Violent Crime