Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to 137 Months in Prison for Committing Three Bank Robberies

CAMDEN, NJ—A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 137 months in federal prison today for committing two banks robberies in New Jersey and one bank robbery in Pennsylvania, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced.

U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle also ordered Frank George Czerwinski, Jr., 45, formerly of Easton, Pa., to pay $14,640 in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison sentence. Czerwinski has been in federal custody since his arrest on Oct. 13, 2007, at the Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Ledyard, Conn., by Connecticut State Police.

Czerwinski pleaded guilty before Judge Simandle on Oct. 7, 2008, to a three-count Information that charged him with bank robbery. At his plea hearing, Czerwinski admitted that he used a gun, which ultimately turned out to be a pellet gun, to rob the following banks;

• Sept. 30, 2007, Unity Bank in Palmer Township, Pa., of approximately $3,400,
• Oct. 3, 2007, The Bank in Berlin Township, N.J., of approximately $5,860,
• Oct. 8, 2007, Parke Bank in Northfield, N.J., of approximately $5,380.

On Oct. 13, 2007, Connecticut State Police located Czerwinski’s 1998 Buick Century in the parking lot of the Foxwoods Resort & Casino. The officers found Czerwinski sleeping in the vehicle and arrested him on outstanding warrants.

In determining the actual sentence, Judge Simandle 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.

Marra credited Special Agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun in Newark, and the Connecticut State Police, under the direction of Colonel Thomas Davoren, Deputy Commissioner for investigation of the case.

The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Skahill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Defense Attorney: Thomas Young, Esquire Assistant Federal Public Defender

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