Two Queens Men Charged with Ardsley Bank Robbery That was Followed by High-Speed Car Chase
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 01, 2013 |
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and George Venizelos, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced the indictment yesterday of Joseph McCrimon and James Sherrod in connection with their alleged robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank in Ardsley on March 29, 2013. The defendants were arrested on March 29 and presented originally before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison in White Plains federal court on March 30, who ordered them remanded. They were arraigned on the indictment today, and the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti.
According to allegations in the indictment unsealed today in White Plains federal court:
McCrimon entered the Wells Fargo Bank in Ardsley during the afternoon of March 29 and handed the teller a note in which he threatened to detonate an explosive device unless the teller gave him $20,000. The teller then gave McCrimon approximately $10,000 in cash, and he ran outside to where Sherrod was waiting for him in a car. When an Ardsley detective attempted to stop the defendants’ car a short time later, Sherrod drove away at speeds that at times exceeded 100 miles per hour. He struck one car but continued driving and also at times drove in the opposite lane of traffic. After Sherrod crashed the defendants’ getaway car in the Village of Hastings, he and McCrimon continued to flee on foot. McCrimon was caught in Hastings, while Sherrod was later caught in Yonkers.
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McCrimon, 38, of Queens, New York, and Sherrod, 39, of Queens, New York, are each charged with one count of bank robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Mr. Bharara praised the efforts of the FBI, the Ardsley Police Department, the Hastings Police Department, the Yonkers Police Department, and Westchester County Department of Public Safety in connection with this investigation.
The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorney James McMahon is in charge of the prosecution.