Ohio man pleads not guilty to federal bank robbery charges in North East heists in 2022
An Ohio man accused of stealing nearly $6,000 from two North East financial institutions over nine days last spring has requested a jury trial after pleading not guilty on Tuesday to two counts of bank robbery in the federal investigation.
Deandre C. Thorington made his initial appearance by videoconference in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday morning to face the bank robbery counts that a federal grand jury indicted him on in December. The indictment was unsealed Feb. 1.
Thorington, through his lawyer, pleaded not guilty to the charges before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Lanzillo and requested a jury trial that lawyers in the case said is expected to take three days. He also waived a detention hearing, as he remains in custody in another matter.
Each of the charges Thorington faces carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Anglin said during Tuesday's proceedings.
Thorington is accused in the indictment of stealing $2,249 from the Widget Financial Federal Credit Union, 5 Grant St. in North East, on April 28, and robbing the KeyBank branch at 27 East Main St. in the borough of $3,692 on May 6.
No one was injured and no weapons were reportedly shown during the two robberies.
More:Search ongoing for suspect who robbed Widget Financial branch in North East Thursday
In each case, the robbery suspect used a note to rob the branch before fleeing with stolen money, according to information released by the North East Police Department.
Authorities charge that the two North East heists were part of a larger bank robbery spree that Thorington is accused of committing in 2022, according to information in a criminal complaint that an FBI agent filed in U.S. District Court in eastern Michigan in early June.
In the complaint, the agent wrote that probable cause existed that Thorington, with the help of a "getaway driver," committed 15 bank robberies in five states between Feb. 11 and June 6. Those robberies occurred in Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The robbery spree ended when authorities in Ohio took Thorington and another man into custody following the robbery of a Premier Bank branch in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and a police pursuit on June 6.
Surveillance camera images of the suspect who robbed the two North East banks would play a role in identifying Thorington as a suspect in the bank robbery spree, according to investigators.
According to information in the FBI's complaint, a former corrections officer at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut, Ohio, recognized Thorington, a former inmate at the facility, as the person in the released surveillance video images.
Investigators wrote that Thorington was also identified as a suspect through a tattoo on his neck and through cell phone information.
A grand jury in eastern Michigan indicted Thorington in late June on charges in some of the robberies in the crime spree.
Investigation ongoing in latest North East robbery
North East police continue to investigate a more recent bank robbery in the borough, which happened at the KeyBank branch on East Main Street on Jan. 23.
Investigators said a male suspect passed a note demanding money and fled the branch with an undisclosed sum of cash.
The suspect was described as wearing a dark blue hooded zip-up jacket, dark blue or black pants, black and white shoes, red gloves and a face mask, North East police reported.
More:North East police, FBI continue search for suspect who used note to rob Key Bank branch
No one had been charged in the robbery as of Tuesday.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Ohio man pleads not guilty to charges in North East, PA bank robberies
