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Jose Luis Martinez, 33, of Iowa, must serve all of the plea-bargained 94-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
Martinez was wearing glasses, an Everlast hoodie and two wool caps when he entered the Bank of America branch on Park Plaza Drive on Jan. 5, 2017, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
He pointed a long-barreled gun at a teller and said he'd “shoot her and other customers if she did not comply,” the U.S. attorney said.
He then fled with the cash.
A grand jury in U.S. District Court in Newark subsequently returned an indictment charging Martinez with armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a holdup.
Rather than risk a trial, Martinez pleaded guilty to the charges last Sept. 13.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge William J. Martini sentenced Martinez to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $31,000 in restitution.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the guilty plea and sentencing, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Garrett Schuman of his General Crimes Unit in Newark.
He also thanked the FBI’s White Plains, NY, office, as well as the NYPD and police in Greenwich, CT, and Port Chester, NY, without explaining their involvement.
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