Charged Filed For Supermarket Bank Robbery In Newington

NEWINGTON, CT — A pair of Connecticut residents has been charged in connection with People's United Bank robberies last month in Newington and two other towns.

The announcement was made Wednesday by United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery, FBI Special Agent in Charge David Sundberg, Middletown Police Chief Erik M. Costa, Glastonbury Police Chief Marshall Porter, Newington Police Chief Stephen Clark, and West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick Jr.

Gino Rizzo 28, and Jalana Pantano, 27, both of Middletown, have been charged with bank robbery offenses on an indictment.

Avery said the FBI and several municipal police departments have been investigating multiple robberies that occurred this summer at People's United Bank branches located in Stop & Shop supermarkets in Connecticut. The indictment charges that Rizzo robbed branches in Glastonbury on July 16 and in Newington on July 18 and that Rizzo and Pantano pulled off a similar caper in West Hartford on July 20.

The three-count indictment was returned by a grand jury in Bridgeport on Aug. 17 and Rizzo and Pantano appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia in New Haven and were ordered detained.

The charge of bank robbery carries a maximum prison term term of 20 years, Avery said.