TRENTON – A Trenton man was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for committing a bank robbery in which $176,000 was taken from a bank’s vault, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson also ordered Ronald L. King, 19, of Trenton, to pay $149,000 in restitution, and serve three years of supervised release following the completion of his prison sentence.

King entered his guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Trenton before Judge Thompson on March 13, 2006. King admitted that on Sept. 20, 2005, he entered the Yardville National Bank branch, located on Lalor Street in Trenton, intending to rob the bank. King further admitted that upon entering the bank, he brandished an object that looked like a handgun, and pointed it at bank employees. King further admitted that he ordered employees to open the bank’s vault, which they did. King then entered the vault and put what was subsequently determined to be approximately $176,040 in cash into a black backpack that he had brought into the bank. The defendant then exited the bank and then fled the area.

A federal warrant for King’s arrest was issued on Sept. 22, 2005. King was arrested in Fayetteville, N.C., on Oct. 6, 2005, by Special Agents of the FBI.

A second individual, Shabazz McCarthan, was also charged in connection with the Yardville National Bank robbery. On Nov. 17, 2005, McCarthan entered a guilty plea before Judge Thompson to a one-count Information charging bank robbery. At his plea hearing, McCarthan admitted that he acted as King's get-away driver in connection with the bank robbery. The FBI recovered approximately $27,000 in proceeds from McCarthan in connection with his arrest. McCarthan's sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

In determining the sentence, Judge Thompson consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, was not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI’s Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Leslie G. Wiser, Jr., Special Agent in Charge in Newark, and Police Officers with Trenton Police Department, under the direction of Joseph Santiago, Director, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric M. Schweiker of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Trenton.