Photo Courtesy of Google
Benitez stole more than $50,000 from this Queens County Savings Bank in Fresh Meadows.
By Forum Staff
A Far Rockaway man has been sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison for his role in the armed robberies of four banks in Queens and Nassau County in 2017, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.
Pedro Benitez, 21, pleaded guilty in March to armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The sentence also included a term of three years of supervised release and $71,395 in restitution.
On Sept. 20, 2017, Benitez entered the Queens County Savings Bank on 188th Street in Fresh Meadows, ordered customers and employees of the bank to the floor at gunpoint and gained access to the area behind the tellers’ counter. Once in the tellers’ area, Benitez stole more than $50,000 in cash that had been delivered to the bank earlier in the day and was laid out on a table in a room adjacent to the teller’s area.
At his guilty plea, Benitez admitted that he had also participated in three additional robberies in Nassau during the summer of 2017. In each of those incidents, Benitez was the gunman who entered the banks and robbed the employees of the banks’ cash. In total, Benitez and the crew stole more than $70,000 from four banks between July and September 2017.
“Pedro Benitez thought committing armed bank robberies was a good way to get money, but he learned that it is just a good way to end up in prison,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
Two other members of the bank robbery crew previously pled guilty and are awaiting sentence. Two additional members of the robbery crew are awaiting trial, federal authorities noted.
