Union County Woman Who Drove Getaway Car After Bank Robbery Sentenced to 54 Months in Prison

NEWARK, NJ—A Union County, New Jersey woman who admitted serving as the getaway driver during the July 12, 2012 bank robbery of Unity Bank located at 1230 Bound Brook Road (Route 28) in Middlesex, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 54 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Teresa Webb, 42, of Plainfield, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Kevin McNulty to an information charging her with one count of bank robbery. Judge McNulty imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On July 31, 2012, Claude Williams, 61, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was charged by complaint with six counts of bank robbery and two counts of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. In the course of those robberies, Williams would generally send an accomplice into the bank to case it shortly before he entered to commit the robbery.

Before the July 12, 2012 robbery, Webb entered the Unity Bank twice without doing any banking. A short while later, an unarmed, off-duty police officer allegedly observed Williams leave the bank, get into the rear of the getaway car, and crouch down. After noting the license plate number, the officer followed the car. Webb, who was driving the getaway car, attempted to elude the officer.

After Webb’s unsuccessful attempt to elude the officer, Williams got out of the car and pointed his gun at the officer, forcing her to leave the scene without apprehending Williams and Webb.

In addition to the prison term, Judge McNulty sentenced Webb to five years of supervised release. The charges against Williams are pending.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark with the investigation leading to the arrest. He also thanked the Somerset County Prosecutors Office and the Middlesex Borough, Piscataway, Clifton, Metuchen, North Plainfield, and Plainfield Police Departments for their work in this case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Osmar J. Benvenuto of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.