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April 30, 2008

Pawtucket man sentenced for 'fill this bag' bank robbery

PROVIDENCE -- A Pawtucket man was sentenced today to more than three years in prison for robbing the Pawtucket Credit Union in March last year.

William Harper, 41, received the 37-month sentence for taking about $3,600 from the the Pawtucket Credit Union on Broadway, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente's office.

Harper pleaded guilty in October to bank robbery.

Prosecutor Zechariah Chafee said at the plea hearing the government could show that on March 14 last year Harper, wearing a ski mask, went into the Credit Union at 540 Broadway. According to the news release, when Harper did not get attention at one teller window, he went to another teller, pushed in front of a customer, and thrust a plastic bag toward the teller, saying, “Fill this bag. Hurry up.”

The teller put about $3,600 in the bag, and Harper fled.

He was arrested at his Woodlawn Avenue apartment about a month later. Prosecutors said that after detectives confronted him with bank surveillance photos, he admitted to the robbery.

Pawtucket police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 2:55 PM | Permalink

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