Bank robber is sentenced to 46 months in prison

A federal judge today sentenced Raul Ortiz, 35, of Providence, to 46 months in prison for a robbery he committed at a Sovereign Bank branch on Elmwood Avenue last December.

United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentence, which Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres imposed yesterday in U.S. District Court, Providence.

In April, Ortiz pled guilty to bank robbery. At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Zechariah Chafee said that the government could prove that, on December 9, 2005, Ortiz went into the Sovereign branch at 520 Elmwood Avenue and handed a teller a note demanding money and claiming he had a gun. He fled the bank with about $1,760.

Providence Police arrested Ortiz four days later. They traced him through a surveillance video of his car, which had been parked outside a nearby store during the robbery, and developed additional evidence linking Ortiz to the bank robbery.

Providence Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the robbery. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chafee prosecuted the case.

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Contact: 401-709-5032 Thomas.connell@usdoj.gov

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