BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge on Monday sent the woman who took a taxi to and from a downtown bank when she robbed it in July 2010 back to prison for nearly a year.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock rejected a joint recommendation from the prosecution and defense that Matisha Marie Pitts, 29, of Bangor serve six months in federal prison for violating her supervised release. Woodcock sent Pitts back to prison for 11 months, the maximum allowed under the federal sentencing guidelines and terminated her supervised release.
“The long-suffering United States taxpayer should not be required to pay for people like you who won’t follow the rules,” the judge told Pitts just before imposing the sentence. “They should not be required to help people who don’t help themselves.
“The community needs a break from Ms. Pitts and she needs a reminder that the rules apply to her,” Woodcock concluded.
Monday’s appearance was the second time this year Pitts had appeared before Woodcock. In January, he sentenced her, “with great reluctance,” to 45 days in jail followed by a year of supervised release for new criminal conduct.
Pitts was serving the first 90 days of that term of supervised release at a Bangor halfway house when she was arrested for not following the facility’s rules, according to the petition, filed by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, seeking to revoke her supervised release.
In 2011, Pitts admitted she robbed Bangor Savings Bank on State Street 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.
By pleading guilty to bank robbery, Pitts admitted she entered the bank about 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.
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 in March 2011 to four years in prison. She was released on supervised release in May.
Pitts was ordered on Monday to pay the remaining $585 she owes in restitution.