Serial Bank Robber Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Two Long Island Bank Robberies

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, Steven Bertuglia was sentenced to 15 years in prison by United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco. On October 3, 2012, Bertuglia pleaded guilty to committing two bank robberies in Nassau and Suffolk Counties while on release to a halfway house for convictions stemming from a string of 14 bank robberies he committed in 2007.
The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York Field Office; Thomas C. Krumpter, Acting Commissioner, Nassau County Police Department (NCPD); and Edward Webber, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD).
“Having refused to learn from his mistakes, this serial bank robber will now have the next 15 years to contemplate the consequences of his actions. We stand committed to protecting the public from dangerous repeat offenders,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the FBI, the NCPD, and the SCPD for their participation in this case.
On June 16, 2008, United States District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, in federal court in Brooklyn, sentenced Bertuglia to five years in prison for committing 14 bank robberies in 2007 in Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens Counties and in New Jersey and Connecticut. On May 3, 2011, Bertuglia was released from prison to live in a halfway house in Brooklyn, where he was scheduled to finish serving the remainder of the 2008 sentence, which would have ended on January 13, 2012.
During his guilty plea proceeding before Judge Bianco, Bertuglia admitted that in June 2011, he committed two bank robberies in Nassau and Suffolk Counties while on release at the Brooklyn halfway house. Specifically, on June 9, 2011, Bertuglia rented a car, drove to an Atlantic Bank branch in Hicksville, New York, presented the teller with a threatening note, and made off with cash. Nearly four years earlier in June 2007, Bertuglia had robbed that same Atlantic Bank branch while armed with a pellet gun. On June 16, 2011, Bertuglia again used a threatening note to rob a TD Bank branch in Farmingville, New York.
On January 13, 2012, Bertuglia was arrested by the FBI, with assistance from NCPD and SCPD.
The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles N. Rose.
Defendant:
Steven Bertuglia, age 41