Plainfield Woman Sentenced to 87 Months in Prison for Her Roles as Lookout, Getaway Driver in Armed Bank Robberies

NEWARK, NJ—A Plainfield, New Jersey woman was sentenced today to 87 months in prison for playing a role in three armed robberies of banks in Somerset and Middlesex counties, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Andrea Dorsey, 54, of Plainfield, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty to an information charging her with three counts of bank robbery. Judge McNulty imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Claude Williams, 62, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was charged on August 16, 2013, in a 17-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, seven counts of bank robbery, eight counts of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and one count of attempted bank robbery. Those charges remain pending against Williams.
Williams would usually send an accomplice into banks shortly before robbing them. Dorsey admitted she went into banks to gather information for Williams about how many employees were working and served as the getaway driver during the armed robberies of the Financial Resources Federal Credit Union located in Somerset, New Jersey on September 26, 2011; the Somerset Savings Bank located in Somerville, New Jersey on November 21, 2011; and the Fulton Bank located in Metuchen, New Jersey on June 20, 2012.
Williams and Dorsey were arrested July 30, 2012 near a Unity Bank in Somerset. Williams was wearing a bandana, and law enforcement found a handgun and white gloves in the car.
In addition to the prison term, Judge McNulty sentenced Dorsey to four years of supervised release and ordered her to pay $59,387 in restitution.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment against Williams are merely accusations and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation. He also thanked the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office and the Middlesex Borough, Piscataway, Clifton, Metuchen, North Plainfield, and Plainfield Police Departments for their roles in the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Osmar J. Benvenuto of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: Anthony J. Iacullo Esq., Nutley, New Jersey

Lookout in Hobbs Act Robbery and Murder of Woonsocket Gas Station Manager Sentenced to More Than 15 Years in Federal Prison

PROVIDENCE, RI—Kelley M. Lajoie, 35, formerly of Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Providence to 188 months in federal prison for her role as lookout in the September 2010 armed robbery and murder of Woonsocket gas station manager David D. Main.
United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Vincent B. Lisi of the FBI’s Boston Field Office; Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police; and Chief Thomas S. Carey of the Woonsocket Police Department made the announcement.
According to court documents, on September 20, 2010, Main, 49, was chased, shot to death at close range and robbed by Jason Wayne Pleau, 36, of Providence, as he approached the doorstep of a Woonsocket bank where he was preparing to deposit more than $12,500 in cash belonging to the gas station. Lajoie admitted to the court that she acted as a lookout and alerted Jason Pleau when Mr. Main left the gas station to travel to the bank.
According to information presented to the court, earlier on the morning of September 20, 2010, Pleau, Lajoie, and a third co-defendant, Jose Santiago, the getaway driver, visited the gas station to identify Mr. Main and to identify his car. After making a dry run with Pleau, Lajoie drove Pleau to an area near the back of the bank and dropped him off. Meanwhile, Santiago waited in a nearby cul-de-sac in a white box truck to be used by Pleau and Santiago to flee after the robbery.
Lajoie admitted to the court that she waited in her car across the street from the Shell gas station for David Main to leave. When he did, Lajoie placed a call to Jason Pleau and followed Mr. Main to the bank. Lajoie later reunited with Pleau and Santiago at an apartment in Providence. Lajoie admitted to the court that she and Santiago shared in about half of the more than $12,500 dollars in cash taken from Mr. Main by Jason Pleau.
At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith also ordered Lajoie to serve five years’ supervised release upon completion of her prison term. Lajoie pleaded guilty on December 9, 2011, to one count each of Hobbs Act conspiracy; aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery; and use of a firearm during and in relation to a federal crime of violence.
Pleau, who pleaded guilty on July 31, 2013, to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery; Hobbs Act robbery; and carrying, using, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a federal crime of violence resulting in death was sentenced in October 2013 to serve life in federal prison.
Santiago, who pleaded guilty on September 5, 2013, to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery; Hobbs Act robbery; and carrying, using, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a federal crime of violence resulting in death was sentenced on February 13, 2014, to 40 years in federal prison.
The matter was investigated by the Woonsocket Police Department, Rhode Island State Police, and the FBI, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service and the Rhode Island National Guard.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adi Goldstein and William J. Ferland of the District of Rhode Island and Trial Attorney Jacabed Rodriguez-Coss of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section.