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Petar Petyoshin, age 40, of Edgartown, is charged with a single count of armed bank robbery, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said. He has been held in jail on a related state charge since May.
Investigators allege that Petyoshin entered a Rockland Trust Bank branch in the Cape Cod town of Falmouth on April 8 wearing a blonde wig and face mask and pointing a pistol. He put an object on the counter that he claimed was a bomb and told tellers, "I'm robbing you," federal prosecutors said.
Petyoshin then zip-tied employees' and customers' hands together, stuffed $20,000 in cash into a Walmart bag, and sped away in one of the customer's cars, federal officials said.
Investigators said they traced Petyoshin's van from a ferry at Woods Hole in Falmouth at 7 a.m. the day of the robbery to a grocery store parking lot near the bank. Surveillance video shows a man wearing the same disguise stepping out of the vehicle and walking toward Rockland Trust. The person returned to the van 15 minutes after the robbery.
The van left Falmouth via the same ferry at 1:15 p.m., officials said.
Petyoshin owns the clothing store Dapper Martha's Vineyard. The Oak Bluffs shop on Facebook advertised a blonde wig, jacket, and sunglasses that match what the bank robber wore, federal investigators said.
Police searched Petyoshin's home on May 23 and found thousands of dollars in cash bundled in Rockland Trust money bands, zip ties, and clothes that matched the robber's outfit, officials said. They also found 57 guns and a "large amount" of ammo in his house.
Petyoshin faces up to 25 years in federal prison if convicted, according to sentencing guidelines.
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