BANGOR, Maine — A local woman who was sentenced to four years in federal prison for robbing a bank in downtown Bangor is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court Tuesday morning on a motion to revoke her supervised release.
Matisha M. Pitts, 29, is accused of new criminal conduct. Pitts admitted in 2011 she robbed Bangor Savings Bank the year before.
She was released from federal prison in May and began serving three years of supervised release.
Pitts could be sent back to federal prison for up to two years if U.S. District Judge John Woodcock determines she violated the terms of her supervised release.
In June, she was arrested in Bangor and charged with criminal trespass for allegedly refusing to leave the home of an acquaintance after she was told to leave, according to court documents. She released from the Penobscot County Jail on bail.
Pitts was arrested again Sept. 5 and charged with two counts of theft by unauthorized taking and one count each of violation of condition of release and trafficking in prison contraband. She has been held at the Penobscot County Jail since then, according to court documents.
She was indicted on those charges in November by the Penobscot County grand jury and pleaded not guilty in December. Information on the status of those charges was not available early Tuesday.
When handing down Pitts’ original sentence, Woodcock noted her difficult childhood and mental health problems, for which she needs regular medication. He also pointed out she had been convicted of seven crimes in state court in the decade before.
“You are a very nice, gentle person when you are on your medications,” Woodcock said on March 11, 2011. “But when you are off your meds, you’re a terror.”
By pleading guilty to bank robbery, Pitts admitted she entered Bangor Savings Bank on State Street at around 9:30 a.m. July 6, 2010, and handed a note to a teller demanding money. Pitts indicated she had a gun in her bag and would start shooting if anyone tried to stop her, according to court documents. The bank employee handed over $1,390 in cash, and Pitts left the bank.
The note, including grammatical and spelling errors, said, “I have a gun in my purse give me all your 20s and tens or Ill start shooting if any 1 tries and stop me B4 I leave Ill shot No Joke,” according to court documents.
Witnesses later told police a woman matching the description of the bank robber got into a taxi in front of Bangor Savings a few minutes after 9:30 a.m. Police traced the taxi to an apartment building on Kenduskeag Avenue, where Pitts was found.
After searching the apartment, police recovered $780 in cash but no weapon, according to court documents. The remaining money was not accounted for when Pitts was sentenced.
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