Thursday, 4:30 PM
Lowell man gets jail time for helping after bank heist
By Elizabeth A. Ratto, Globe correspondent
A Lowell man was sentenced today to nearly four years in jail for helping his cousin flee the state after he allegedly robbed a Lawrence bank, according to the US attorney's office.
Oscar Pena, 30, pleaded guilty in July to one count of being an accessory after the fact, for driving Rolando Gonzalez to New York after he found out that Gonzalez and Hector Javier Sevilla, with the help from Gonzalez's girlfriend, Ana Cosme, who was a teller at the bank, stole $450,000 during an armed robbery on Jan. 31 of the TD Banknorth branch on South Broadway in Lawrence.
Prosecutors say that Gonzalez gave Pena $3,000 and paid for $1,000 in clothing that Pena bought in New York.
Pena will serve three years and 11 months in jail, followed by three years probation, and will pay $4,000 in fines and restitution. The other defendants' cases are still pending.
