A Westbrook man pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to robbing the Cumberland County Credit Union in Falmouth on Jan. 31, 2018, and the Norway Savings Bank in Portland nearly 14 months later.
Aaron West, 38, admitted that he stole more than $16,000 from the credit union and robbed the bank of about $1,000 at 4:20 p.m. March 18, 2019. West was on bail for the Falmouth robbery when he demanded money from the teller in the Norway bank.
A sentencing date has not been set.
He will continue to be held without bail.
When he committed the first robbery, West was unemployed and using drugs, according to the prosecution version of events to which he pleaded guilty. The day of the robbery, West got a friend to drive him to a spot near the credit union where he had an account with a $5 negative balance.
West entered the building at 12:05 p.m. wearing a black hooded sweatshirt over a dark winter hat with a cloth over the lower half of his face, according to court documents. He approached a teller with his right hand in his right sweatshirt pocket but did not show a weapon.
He instructed the teller to remove her drawer and place it on the counter, court documents said. West took $16,250 in $100 and $50 bills, leaving smaller denominations behind.
West escaped on foot and returned to his friend’s car. The friend is not named in the court document and is listed as a cooperating witness.
Two days later, West gambled away $500 at Oxford Casino, the court documents said.
When West robbed the Norway bank more than a year later, he was supposed to be living at a sober house in downtown Portland but had been told more than a week earlier that he could no longer live there because he had failed to take a required drug test, according to court documents.
During that robbery, West also covered the lower half of his face with a cloth, wore a black hat under a hooded sweatshirt and had a hand in his pocket as if hiding a weapon.
West, who continued staying at the sober house for unexplained reasons, was arrested the day after the Portland robbery at the sober house. Police recovered $521 and found cocaine on one of the bills.
West faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. He also could be ordered to pay restitution.