Serial Bank Robber Hits for the Seventh Time

NEWARK—The FBI’s Newark Division is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying and locating the individual believed to be responsible for robbing seven banks since August of 2013. In all of the robberies, the individual approached the teller, presented a demand note, and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. He wore a red baseball cap in four of the robberies, a camouflage baseball cap in two robberies, and a two-tone cap on the last robbery. In all bank robberies, the subject is described as follows:

• Race: White
• Gender: Male
• Height: 5’5”-5’7” tall (approximately)
• Hair: Auburn/red or brown
• Facial Hair: Mustache/beard
• Age: Late 20s, early 30s
• Build: Medium

The following is a chronological listing of the robberies with related photos:
Friday, August 30, 2013 - At approximately 11:06 a.m., the Investors Bank located at 51 South Broad Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore a red hat, grey shirt, tan shorts, and black sunglasses. He was also carrying a black book bag.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 – At approximately 4:00 p.m., the Investors Bank located at 51 South Broad Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore a red baseball cap, a red t-shirt, black pants, and carried a black backpack.

Saturday, December 7, 2013 – At approximately 11:18 a.m., the PNC Bank located at 45 South Martine Avenue in Fanwood, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore blue jeans, a red baseball cap, a black jacket, and a blue scarf.

Saturday, January 25, 2014 – At approximately 12:40 p.m., the Capital One Bank located at 815 Route 22, North Plainfield, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore a camouflage colored cap, tan jacket, black gloves, and a black scarf.

Saturday, March 1, 2014 – At approximately 11:30 a.m., the PNC Bank located at 1730 Oak Tree Road, Edison, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore a camouflage colored cap, dark jacket, and black gloves.

Saturday, March 8, 2014 – At approximately 11:57 a.m., the Capital One Bank located at Route 1 South, Woodbridge, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore a red baseball cap, black winter jacket, and dark pants.

Saturday, March 22, 2014 – At approximately 9:47 a.m., the Rahway Savings Institute located at 426 Lake Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey, was robbed. The subject wore a two-tone baseball cap with blue or green and white with “A” emblem, and a black jacket.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for these bank robberies.
Anyone with information about these or any other bank robberies should contact the FBI at (973) 792-3000. Additional information and photographs of these bank robberies can be found on Bandittrackernortheast.com.
Citizens are reminded they should never attempt to apprehend a fugitive on their own, and should dial 911 in an emergency.

Blytheville-Area Drug Traffickers Arrested

LITTLE ROCK—Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas; William J. Bryant, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock District Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); and Scott Ellington, District Prosecuting Attorney for the Second Judicial District of Arkansas, announced the unsealing of a 62-count indictment charging multiple defendants in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma with multiple drug charges. An investigation into large-scale drug trafficking resulted in the arrests of 21 defendants on methamphetamine and marijuana charges Thursday. Those arrested are scheduled to appear before United States Magistrate Judge Jerome T. Kearney at 1 p.m. today. Four defendants remain at large.
“The result of many hours of investigation by dedicated law enforcement agents and officers is clear—drug traffickers will be arrested and prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law,” stated Thyer. “We continue to target the networks supplying meth across the northeastern region of Arkansas to take the dealers, the drugs, and the weapons out of our communities.”
ASAC Bryant added, “Methamphetamine continues to be the number-one drug threat to the citizens of Arkansas. As you can see in this case, it not only affects our urban areas but also our rural areas such as Manila, Arkansas. As a result of a great team effort of federal, state, and local law enforcement, this drug trafficking organization was dismantled.”
“The Arkansas State Police has made an unconditional commitment toward working with all law enforcement agencies and provide whatever resources we can to remove from our communities those individuals who provide a source of illegal drugs,” said Colonel Stan Witt.
District Attorney Ellington added, “I want to thank U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer, Bill Bryant and the DEA, Colonel Stan Witt and the Arkansas State Police, and the other federal agencies who assisted our local officers with the investigation and execution of this operation. It is good to know that when we run up against a significant distribution organization as we saw in this instance, we only have to ask for assistance and they are willing to step up and take the lead in the investigation and apprehension of those bringing methamphetamine into our community. I also want to thank our Drug Task Force for their tireless efforts in this case and every case they work.”
Yesterday, federal, state, and local law enforcement arrested 17 defendants during an early-morning operation focused in Blytheville. Roy Witherspoon, age 30, of Blytheville, was arrested Thursday night. One defendant, Renaldre Jackson, age 22, of Blytheville, was already in federal custody after pleading guilty to another drug charge. Two others, Quinton Wiencek, age 41, of Chaffee, Missouri, and Timothy Sheard, age 35, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, were in state custody on unrelated charges. Cordero Lockhart, a/k/a “KO,” age 25; Antwon Bailey, a/k/a “Pee Wheezy,” age 27; Tamika Petty, age 26; and Jamal Shontal Piggie, a/k/a “Joker,” age 27, all of Blytheville, are still at large. More than $50,000 in drug proceeds, multiple cars and motorcycles, drug paraphernalia, and several firearms were seized from multiple houses during the operation.
The DEA investigation began in late 2011 and early 2012. Multiple undercover operations and numerous law enforcement actions, including multiple seizures of methamphetamine, were conducted by the DEA and 2nd Judicial Drug Task Force.
The indictment handed down by a federal grand jury on January 7, 2014, charges 25 defendants in 62 separate counts stemming from a large-scale investigation into methamphetamine and narcotics trafficking in Northeast Arkansas. Four defendants live in Southeastern Missouri, one in Oklahoma, and one in Little Rock. The charges include conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, aiding and abetting distribution of methamphetamine, misprision of a felony, and use of telephone to facilitate a drug trafficking crime. Twenty-four of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Each defendant charged with conspiracy will face a possible sentence of not less than 10 years to life imprisonment. All 25 defendants also face from one to three telephone counts, which carry a statutory sentence of not more than four years’ imprisonment.
The investigation was conducted by the DEA and the ATF Cape Girardeau Field Office, with substantial assistance from the 2nd Judicial Drug Task Force, which includes officers from the Jonesboro Police Department, Blytheville Police Department, the Osceola Police Department, Craighead County Sherriff’s Office, and the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office. Assistance was also provided by the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, ATF Little Rock Field Office, FBI Jonesboro Resident Agency, United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Marshals Service, the Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas National Guard, and Little Rock Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Chris Givens.
An indictment contains only allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Former Hells Angel Member Sentenced for Stealing Shipment from Railcar

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Richard E. Riedman, 40, of Webster, New York, who was convicted of conspiracy to burglarize a railroad car and theft of an interstate shipment following a jury trial, was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $4,669.26 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who handled the case, stated that, in the early morning hours of June 30, 2009, Riedman, a former member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, along with co-conspirators Christopher Monfort, Anthony Toscano, Anthony Russell, and Timothy Stone, stole more than 17 gross tons of a high-grade scrap steel from a railcar at a CSXT rail yard in Batavia, New York. Riedman and his co-conspirators used a logging truck to remove the scrap steel from the railcar, wore dark clothing, used lookouts to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities and pedestrians, and used two-way radios to communicate with each other during the theft. The defendants were caught by members of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office in the logging truck and a pick-up truck as they left the scene of the theft in the early morning hours of June 30, 2009. The bales were in the process of being shipped to a steel mill in Pennsylvania when they were stolen. Riedman, Toscano, Russell, and Stone were convicted after a two-week jury trial before Judge Siragusa in September 2012.
Judge Siragusa previously sentenced Toscano to 18 months in prison, Russell to 15 months, and Stone to 12 months. Monfort, who pleaded guilty to burglary from a railroad car and the manufacture of 50 or more marijuana plants, was sentenced by Judge Siragusa to 78 months in prison.
The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian P. Boetig, and the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Gary Maha.