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WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A Cumberland man has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for robbing three banks in two states in less than a month.
Joseph Petrarca was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Providence. He pleaded guilty in March to robbing two Rhode Island banks. At sentencing Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to robbing a Hartford, Vermont bank.
Prosecutors say stole $1,764 when he robbed a Citizens Bank in Cumberland in December 2012, and almost $9,600 when he robbed a Washington Trust in Cranston in January 2013.
Authorities say he also made off with more than $6,200 when he robbed a People’s United Bank in Vermont that month.
In all three, the 50-year-old Petrarca either said or suggested he was armed.
He was ordered to pay full restitution.
