BOSTON- A U.S. pentecostal minister has pleaded guilty to robbing banks from Maine to Massachusetts of more than $10,000 (6,300 pounds), law enforcement officials said.
Jerry Hayes, 52, of Hartford, Maine, was arrested in May after he gave a Massachusetts bank teller a note saying he was armed and demanded that all large bills be placed into a bag.
The note added: "Do not put any device into bag: paint, track, etc. If I sense an alarm is set: Someone will be hostage."
The teller gave the minister $2,550 in cash and a dye pack that exploded as he fled the robbery. Police later arrested him and found a loaded .38 calibre handgun on the floor of his car.
A subsequent investigation showed he had robbed four other banks in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and that he was laundering the proceeds through an account in the name of the church where he was pastor, the Shema First Apostolic Assembly in Canton, Maine, federal prosecutors said.
Hayes faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the five bank robberies, to which he pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Reginald C. Lindsay. He is due to be sentenced in January. You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or interesting stories for the world to read and respond to Click hereScroll all the way down to read replies.Show all stories by Author: 61930 ( Click here )
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