An Elizabeth man was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for a string of eight bank robberies.
An Elizabeth man was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for seven bank robberies and one attempted robbery committed over a stretch of 11 months.NEWARK -- Eight times over a period of 11 months, Claude Williams walked into a bank, pulled out a handgun, vaulted over a teller's counter and demanded money.
On Monday, Williams, 64, of Elizabeth, appeared in U.S. District Court and was sentenced to 22 years in prison for bank robbery and other charges for the hold-ups and one attempted hold-up, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced.
The spree of crimes occurred Somerset, Middlesex and Passaic counties from September 2011 through July 2012, Fishman said.
Each time, Fishman said, Williams entered a bank armed with a handgun and wearing a bandana, hooded sweatshirt or jacket, and white gloves. In each case, he went over a counter and demanded money from bank tellers at gunpoint, Fishman said.
RELATED: Man charged in string of bank hold-ups.
Williams previously pleaded guilty to the robberies before U.S. District Court Judge Kevin McNulty.
An accomplice, Andrea Dorsey, 56, of Plainfield New Jersey, who admitted that she served as a lookout and getaway driver for three of the robberies, was sentenced March 2014 to 87 months in prison.
A second woman, Teresa Webb, 45, of Plainfield, who admitted that she was the getaway driver for one of the robberies, was previously sentenced to 54 months in prison.
The robberies occurred in Clifton, Metuchen, Middlesex Borough, North Plainfield, Piscataway, Somerset and Somerville, Fishman said.
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