PORTLAND, Maine — A Berwick man waived indictment Tuesday in U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty to robbing four banks — two in York County and two in New Hampshire — at gunpoint last year.
Phillip G. Gage, 46, admitted robbing the following banks on the following dates: Citizens Bank in Somersworth, N.H., on Aug. 21; the Peoples United Bank in Exeter, N.H., on Oct. 7; the Kennebunk Savings Bank in Eliot on Oct. 19; and the Ocean Communities Federal Credit Union in Sanford on Oct. 26.
Gage stole more than $21,000 from the four locations, according to a press release issued by the U.S. attorney’s office.
In addition to pleading guilty to four counts of armed bank robbery, Gage pleaded guilty to one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm and using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
Gage was prevented from possessing a gun due to previous felony convictions in Florida in 1986 and in Maine in 1999 and 2002.
He faces up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the bank robbery charges; between 15 years and life in prison on the charge of being a felon in possession of a gun; and a consecutive mandatory sentence of between seven years and life in prison for brandishing a gun during the bank robberies.
Gage is scheduled to be sentenced in June in federal court in Portland.