BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge Tuesday “with great reluctance” sent a local woman, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison for robbing a bank in downtown Bangor in 2010, to jail for 45 days for violating her supervised release.
Matisha M. Pitts, 29, was accused of new criminal conduct last year, including being charged in connection with the theft of a wallet with $600 in it and a cellphone from a construction worker. He left them on the ground at a job site, and Pitts walked off with them, according to court documents.
Pitts admitted in 2011 she robbed Bangor Savings Bank the year before. She took a cab to and from the Bangor bank and was arrested a few hours later near her apartment on Kenduskeag Avenue, according to previously published reports.
She was released from federal prison in May and began serving three years of supervised release.
Pitts told U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock on Tuesday she was homeless and had trouble getting services to address her mental health and substance abuse issues when she arrived back in Bangor.
Woodcock said it was with “extreme reluctance” that he accepted the recommendation of U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services and sentenced Pitts to 45 days in the Penobscot County Jail to be followed by a year of supervised release. The first 90 days of her supervised release will be spent in community confinement.
Pitts could have been sent back to federal prison for up to two years.
“My patience with you is running at the very end,” Woodcock told Pitts just before imposing the sentence. “How much money are taxpayers going to spend before you stop stealing from people? Thousands and thousands of dollars? Everybody seems to see you as a victim of your own crime, and you are not.”
Woodcock warned Pitts he would deal with her harshly if she is back before him for committing another crime.
“It’s not going to be another session where we all sit down and wring our hands and say, ‘What can we do to help her?’” the judge said. “It will be, ‘What can we do to prevent her from hurting other people?’”
The events that led to the revocation of her supervised release began in June, when 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 was 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.
In a plea agreement with the Penobscot County district attorney’s office, Pitts pleaded no contest Dec. 18 to two misdemeanor theft charges, her attorney, Hunter Tzovarras of Bangor, told Woodcock on Tuesday. The other charges were dismissed
Pitts was sentenced on the state charges to 180 days at the Penobscot County Jail with all but 105 days or time served suspended, Tzovarras said. She had been held without bail on the state charges since her arrest in September.
On Dec. 18, she was transferred to federal custody. That time will count toward her 45-day sentence. Pitts is expected to be moved to a halfway house for 90 days of community confinement on Jan. 31, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey, who prosecuted the case.
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, including several for theft, in state court in the decade before.
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.