‘Sleepover Bandit’ Sentenced to 14 Years for Robbery

LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that HURGENES PIGNARD, a/k/a “Pop,” of Piermont, Rockland County, New York, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 175 months’ imprisonment for his participation in the attempted bank robbery of the First
National Bank of Jeffersonville in Loch Sheldrake, New York, the
attempted bank robbery of the Charter One Bank in Spring Valley,
New York and the robbery of the Palisades Federal Credit Union in
Pearl River, New York. As demonstrated by the evidence at trial:

HURGENES PIGNARD, together with RICHARD REGIS, BYRON
LINDSAY, ELDON DALY, JAMEL BUSSEY and others conspired to rob banks
and a credit union from December 2004 through May 2005. The crew
modeled their robberies after “Sleepover Bandits,” a 2001 movie
about robbers who would arrive at a bank employee’s house the night
before the robbery, take them and their family hostage, and rob the
bank the next morning.
On February 3, 2005, PIGNARD and his conspirators,
followed an employee of the Charter One Bank of Spring Valley, New
York to the employee’s home. The robbers planned to take the
employee hostage overnight at his home overnight and then take the
employee back to the bank the next morning to rob the bank. That
night, in the employee’s driveway, PIGNARD and his conspirators
took the employee hostage at gunpoint. Thereafter, they entered
the home and engaged in a violent struggle with one of the
residents. That individual was pistol whipped by the robbers and
left bleeding from injuries to the individual’s face and head.
Realizing that their bank robbery plan had been foiled, PIGNARD and
his conspirators fled.
On April 20, 2005, PIGNARD and his conspirators, armed
with a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol and pellet guns, set out
for the home of an employee of the First National Bank of
Jeffersonville in Loch Sheldrake, New York. PIGNARD and his coconspirators
planned to break into the employee’s home, bind her
with plastic ties and handcuffs, and obtain information from her
about the bank’s procedures in order to rob the bank the next
morning. Their plan was foiled when an alert neighbor spotted
PIGNARD and his cohorts breaking into the employee’s home and
called the police. PIGNARD and his cohorts fled before the police
arrived.
Thereafter, on May 18, 2005, PIGNARD and his coconspirators,
disguised and armed with pellet guns, robbed the
Palisades Federal Credit Union in Pearl River, New York, of
$219,700. During the robbery they tied up 12 credit union
employees and customers with plastic ties and held them at
gunpoint.
PIGNARD was found guilty of one count of conspiring to
commit bank and credit union robbery, and one count of attempted
bank robbery in connection with the First National Bank of
Jeffersonville in Loch Sheldrake. PIGNARD was acquitted of
possessing a firearm in furtherance of that attempted bank robbery,
and the jury failed to reach a verdict on the count of the
Indictment that charged attempted armed robbery of the Charter One
Bank in Spring Valley, New York.
PIGNARD also pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with
intent to distribute. When Pignard was arrested by the FBI on bank
robbery charges in August 2006, he attempted to dispose of cocaine
stored in his apartment by breaking his bedroom window and throwing
the cocaine into the parking lot of his apartment complex. The
cocaine was recovered by members of the Piermont Police Department
aiding the FBI during the arrest.
In addition to being sentenced to 175 months’
imprisonment, Pignard was also sentenced to 3 years of supervised
release, and must make restitution to the Palisades Federal Credit
Union in the amount of $219,700.
To date the investigation of the bank robberies has
resulted in the prosecution and conviction of four other
individuals: REGIS, LINDSAY, DALY and BUSSEY, each of whom pleaded
guilty to related federal charges. On November 13, 2006, United
States District Judge COLLEEN MCMAHON sentenced REGIS to 211
months’ imprisonment for his participation in the robbery and
attempted robbery of seven banks, check cashing establishments and
credit unions throughout Bronx, Rockland, Sullivan and Nassau
counties. BUSSEY is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge MCMAHON on
October 19, 2007. LINDSAY is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge
MCMAHON on December 6, 2007. DALY is scheduled to be sentenced by
Judge MCMAHON on December 6, 2007. Mr. GARCIA said that the investigation is ongoing. Mr. GARCIA praised the efforts and assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Orangetown Police Department,
the Piermont Police Department, the New York State Police, the
Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, the Nassau County Police
Department and the New York City Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney JOHN P. COLLINS, JR. is in charge of the prosecution.
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