Pewaukee Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Robbery

MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Mathew Carl Koski, 56, Pewaukee, Wis., pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Madison to bank robbery of a Fitchburg, Wis., bank. Pursuant to the plea agreement, he also will be held accountable for three other bank robberies he committed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley scheduled sentencing for June 21, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. Koski faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

At the plea hearing, Koski admitted that he robbed the Park Bank in Fitchburg on January 14, 2011 of approximately $5,625, by presenting a demand note which claimed, among other things, that bombs were planted in the lobby and outside the front entrances of the bank. The note also threatened that no one should follow or call the police until five minutes after the robbery. After the robbery, the Dane County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad was called to the bank and no bombs were located.

Law enforcement officers located the defendant’s vehicle traveling on Interstate 94, where a chase in excess of 85 miles per hour ensued in snowy and icy conditions. During the chase, the police recovered a bag which had been thrown from the vehicle. The bag contained the stolen Park Bank money and .357 Taurus handgun. The defendant was arrested after his vehicle was eventually stopped using “spike strips.”

Koski also admitted in his plea agreement that he robbed three other banks using similar demand notes: the PNC bank in West Allis, Wisconsin of approximately $5,113 on November 29, 2010; the American bank in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, of approximately $5,000 on December 20, 2010; and the Anchor Bank in the Town of Grand Chute, Wisconsin, of $4,021 on December 30, 2010. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Koski's sentence will take into account those crimes as if he had been convicted of them.

The charge and plea against Koski was the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dane County Sheriff's Office, Fitchburg Police Department, Town of Oconomowoc Police Department, Waukesha County Sheriff's Office, Delafield Police Department, Village of Hartland Police Department, West Allis Police Department, Fond du Lac Police Department, and Town of Grand Chute Police Department. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz.