Marathon suspect linked to multi-state crime spree
A suspect in a 2013 Cortland County armed robbery has pleaded guilty to federal charges in a spree of holdups at banks and businesses across four states.
Francis Simmons, 41, of New Jersey, was formally charged June 29 in the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pa., on charges tied to 14 bank robberies and two business robberies, the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
On July 13, Simmons returned to the federal courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., and pleaded guilty to 16 counts of felony robbery charges, according to court records.
Law enforcement officials on Wednesday detailed a series of crimes that spanned from Cortland County to parts of Pennsylvania and North Carolina — ending with Simmons being taken into custody in Maryland in November 2014.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count of robbery, prosecutors said.
Robbery in Marathon
Simmons was identified last year as the suspect in a Nov. 8, 2013 armed robbery at River Bend Antiques on Route 11 in the Village of Marathon, but leads in the investigation eventually turned cold, Cortland County Sheriff’s Lt. Todd Caufield said.
A man entered the Marathon antique shop around noon, spent some time in the store, then brandished a handgun at an employee and demanded jewelry from a locked display case, police said.
The employee was not injured and the suspect fled in a pickup truck after the robbery. Several thousand dollars in jewelry were taken and none of the valuables were ever recovered, police said Wednesday.
Investigators said that before the Marathon case went cold, they learned about another robbery involving a similar suspect and vehicle, which occurred Nov. 6, 2013, near Milton, Pa.
Police connect the dots
Investigators, sharing information and comparing cases, uncovered a pattern in the latter months of 2014, according to police.
Law enforcement officials in Lancaster, Pa., at the time were investigating a bank robbery in their jurisdiction. That case involved a suspect with a similar description as the assailant in the Marathon robbery, Caufield said.
Local police then coordinated information with the FBI offices in Ithaca and Harrisburg. Caufield said that at the time, police believed the same suspect could be responsible for other bank holdups in several surrounding states.
In November 2014, Simmons was taken into custody without a struggle, not long after a daytime bank robbery in Hagerstown, Md., according to police.
Simmons was pulled over in a vehicle that matched a description of the robber’s on Interstate 70 by a Maryland state trooper.
Simmons was questioned by investigators, who followed several additional leads, before connecting him to the Cortland County robbery from a year earlier, police said.
He was also charged in connection with bank robberies that were committed between Nov. 6, 2013, and Nov. 29, 2014:
• In Pennsylvania: Lewisburg, Fogelsville, Dillsburg, Allentown, Wyomissing, Tannserville, Lancaster, Columbia, Hellertown, and Hanover.
• In Maryland: Hagerstown.
• In North Carolina: Asheboro.
Caufield said that because the robberies occurred in several states, the Marathon robbery was included in the federal prosecution.
The investigation involved coordination between police from more than a dozen agencies, police said.
Awaiting sentencing
Simmons is being held in federal custody while awaiting sentencing date, which is being scheduled in federal court.
He waived a grand jury indictment in the case when he entered into the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He admitted to two counts of robbery and 14 counts of bank robbery, all felonies.
Court documents did not provide a dollar figure associated with each bank robbery, but they stated that a minimum value of $40,000 was stolen altogether.
In court documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the guilty plea serves justice because it “fairly and adequately addresses the gravity of the series of offenses from which the charges are drawn.”
Follow Anthony Borrelli on Twitter @PSBABorrelli.