'Puffy Cheek Bandit' gets 13 years
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NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- A former postal worker who moonlighted as "the Puffy Cheek Bandit" was sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to repay more than $100,000 he stole from 27 banks in five states.
Cazzie L. Williams had faced 6 1/2 to 8 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. took the unusual step of exceeding the guideline at Monday's sentencing, saying it did not account for the number of banks that were robbed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah J. Gannett.
Efforts to reach Williams' lawyer, James C. Patton, were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Williams, 31, pleaded guilty in April to robbing four banks in New Jersey, and admitted robbing 23 more in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and Virginia in a period beginning September 19, 1998, in Newark and continuing regularly until June 19, 2000. FBI agents nicknamed him "the Puffy Cheek Bandit" because he held air in his cheeks as he robbed banks.
The bandit, who was profiled on the television show "America's Most Wanted" in 2001, passed tellers notes threatening to shoot people and showed what appeared to be a weapon in some robberies.
Gannet said Williams' prison earnings will go toward restitution.
Williams has been in custody since October 2002, when he was arrested after the FBI matched fingerprints from demand notes to Williams' fingerprints from a 1997 misdemeanor arrest.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
