A Massachusetts man was sentenced Friday in Bridgeport to 30 months in federal prison for his involvement in two area bank burglaries in 2009.
One burglary took place at the Huntington Street TD Bank in Shelton.
The sentencing of Roberto Santiago, 39, of Lawrence, Mass., also included three years of supervised release, according to a press release issued by David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
The sentencing is the second in the case of the case, which is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of investigation, the Waterbury Police Department and the Connecticut State Police. On April 7, David Mazerolle, of Shelton, was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Two other suspects in the burglaries, Felix Cruz and Marco Santiago, await sentencing.
According to information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, David Mazerolle and two accomplices — Marco and Roberto Santiago — cut the telephone lines to the Huntington Street TD Bank late in the evening of Sept. 6, 2009.
Mazerolle and Roberto Santiago — wearing hats, gloves and masks — pried open a rear door to the bank while Marco Santiago acted as lookout for police.
The men stole $1,632 in coins from the teller stations, according to federal prosecutors. They also tried to pry open a vault, but couldn’t do it.
Eight days later, Roberto Santiago, Felix Cruz and an unnamed third person broke into a TD Bank on West Main Street in Waterbury. The phone lines were also cut in that crime.
They tried to break into the bank’s ATM room for some 20 minutes before taking a break and leaving the bank. They re-entered 25 minutes later and again tried to get into the ATM room.
Mazerolle arrived and helped the men get into the room to steal the ATM. They loaded it onto a hand truck and then into a van. State police found the ATM machine the next day. It was missing about $49,000.
