Norwood Man Sentenced on Bank Robbery Charges

BOSTON—A Norwood man was sentenced yesterday in federal court for three counts of armed bank robbery.

MICHAEL COTY, 46, of Norwood, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 60 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release and restitution in the amount of $11,524 after pleading guilty three counts of armed bank robbery on June 22, 2010.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the government’s evidence would have proven that during the spring and summer months of 2009, the communities of Needham, Wellesley, Newton, Dedham, and Walpole experienced a number of violent bank robberies. Evidence would have proven that Coty served as the lookout and getaway driver on robberies occurring at the Bank of America in Wellesley on April 24, 2009; the Sharon Credit Union in Walpole on June 16, 2009; and the Sovereign Bank in Needham on July 1, 2009. In each of the these robberies a masked individual would enter the bank, brandish an automatic-style handgun and commit the robbery. In each incident bank employees noted that the robber was communicating with someone outside the bank via a portable walkie-talkie. The person outside the bank was later determined to be Coty. Coty’s co-defendant, Dimitri Long is scheduled for trial in December 2010.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division made the announcement today. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crime Task Force, the Norfolk County Police Anti Crime Unit, the Wellesley, Needham, Dedham, Newton, and Walpole Police Departments. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth G. Shine of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.