Suspect in holdup of PNC Bank on State Street robbed 2 other banks in long criminal career

Prison is a familiar place and bank robbery a familiar crime for the 60-year-old man charged with holding up the PNC Bank branch on State Street in downtown Erie in late October.

The defendant, Vaughn D. Carter, who is accused of getting away with $340 in $20 bills in an unarmed heist on Oct. 24, has a prior record for robbing two banks in Pittsburgh and has been in and out of prison since he was 21.

Court records portray Carter as a military veteran who has spent most of his life as a criminal addicted to drugs and unable to function without getting incarcerated again and again.

"Defendant's life has been one of long-going struggles," one of his lawyers wrote in a court filing in 2020.

Carter was charged in the first bank robbery in 2002 and the second in 2018, according to the court records.

The records also show Carter was on federal supervised release for his conviction for the 2018 bank robbery in Pittsburgh when he was charged in the robbery of the PNC Bank branch on State Street in Erie.

Carter "is no stranger to the criminal justice system," a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh wrote in a sentencing memorandum in the 2018 case.

Carter, a Pittsburgh native, pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced on January 2020 to 2½ years in prison and three years of supervised release. He was released from prison on April 12, 2021, after he got credit for time he served in prison following his arrest, according to court and prison records.

Based on his date of release, his three years of supervised release — similar to probation — does not expire until April 12, 2024.

If he is convicted in the Erie bank robbery, Carter could face another prison sentence and period of supervised release or probation. The Erie police charged him and he is being prosecuted in Erie County Common Pleas Court, but his case could end up in federal court in Erie, where most bank robberies in northwestern Pennsylvania are handled. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment on a possible transfer.

Carter is in the Erie County Prison on $100,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 29 before Erie 2nd Ward District Judge Edward Wilson.

Carter's case is separate from the case of another recent bank robbery in Erie. Erie police charged three other men in the robbery of the Citizens Bank branch at 3835 Peach St. on Nov. 14.

A convicted bank robber with a troubled past

Wherever his case is prosecuted, Carter has once again found himself incarcerated after a period of being returned to society. Court records show he has struggled with substance abuse, addiction and mental health issues throughout his life.

"Mr. Carter has tried to seek treatment for these concerns but, to date, has not been successful in this endeavor," according to the federal prosecutor's sentencing memo in the 2018 case, which was filed in January 2020. The memo also states:

Carter "had his first encounter with the law when he was 18 years old and his first conviction when he was 21 years old. He has a lengthy arrest record and criminal history, dating back to 1982. In that time, he was convicted of robbery (21 years old), receiving stolen property (23 years old), simple assault (26 years old), robbery (26 years old), grand larceny (38 years old), retail theft (50 years old), harassment (50 years old), theft of services (50 years old), selling non-controlled substances (52 years old) and disorderly conduct (55 years old)."

The prosecutor in the memo explained how probation and supervision had not worked out for Carter.

"Mr. Carter has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of respect for the law, and has an extensive history of supervised release, probation and parole violations, parole revocations, failure to appear for violation hearings and has been repeatedly convicted of other crimes while under supervision," according to the memo. "It is noted that the defendant was on probation for a drug conviction while he committed the instant offense (the 2018 bank robbery), and was also on probation for another offense when he committed the drug offense."

As for Carter's background, the federal prosecutor referred to his "tragic family history" and "difficult childhood" — an area that Carter's lawyer at the time detailed more fully in the 2018 case.

"He had a troubled childhood," the lawyer wrote of Carter in a sentencing memo. "He did not know his father. He was raised primarily by his stepfather and his mother.

"His stepfather was shot and killed during a robbery in 1982 and his mother died in the Allegheny County Jail in 1983. Defendant's stepfather was a drug dealer and Defendant was subjected to home invasions, two of which resulted in him being tied up and a gun put to his head."

Carter graduated from high school in 1982 and enlisted in the U.S. Air National Guard in 1983, according to the defense memo. He was honorably discharged in 1986, according to the memo, and went on to have "a spotty employment record" and became addicted to drugs. He has also dealt with high blood pressure and other physical problems and depression and anxiety, the defense said in the memo.

"Defendant's life has been one of long-going struggles," according to the memo. "Clearly somewhere along his progression, Defendant lost his way. Counsel is of the opinion that given the right opportunities, Defendant could return to being a law-abiding, taxpaying citizen."

The defense memo was filed on Jan. 9, 2020. Carter was sentenced to 2½ years in prison in the 2018 bank robbery on Jan. 23, 2020.

He was charged in the robbery of the PNC Bank branch in Erie on Nov. 6.

Surveillance photos, tip lead to arrest in PNC robbery

Erie police accuse Carter of walking into the PNC branch at 901 State St. at about 1:50 p.m. on Oct. 24 and handing a teller a note that included an image of a gun.

The teller gave Carter $340 in $20 bills and he walked out the front doors of the bank, investigators wrote in Carter's criminal complaint.

Carter during the robbery was wearing a disposable surgical mask — like those worn during the COVID-19 pandemic — according to police and surveillance video. But Carter did not wear a full mask, such as one that covered his entire face, and he did little to hide his identity when he left the bank.

A surveillance photo of him taken after the robbery, as he is on the sidewalk in the 1600 block of Peach Street, about seven blocks south of the PNC Bank, shows him with the surgical mask pulled down to his chin.

Police used the surveillance photos to seek the public's help in solving the bank robbery. Police arrested Carter after getting a tip.

Shortly after 5 p.m. on Nov. 6, officers were called to the Speed Check gas station and convenience store at 1150 East Lake Road, They were investigating a report that a person matching the PNC robbery suspect's description was there, according to the criminal complaint. The person officers encountered matched the description of the robbery suspect and was wearing shoes similar to what the robber was wearing, police said.

Police arrested Carter, whose address police listed as a residence in the 1400 block of East Ninth Street near Gilson Avenue and several blocks south of East Lake Road and the Speed Check.

Carter is charged with robbery as a first-degree felony, making terroristic threats as a second-degree felony and the misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

He is also charged with the misdemeanor of providing false identification to police and the summary offense of failure to comply with a police order. Police accused him of identifying himself as "Tony Carter" to police at the Speed Check on Nov. 6 knowing that his "actual name is Vaughn D. Carter," according to the criminal complaint in that case.

Bank robbery in 2018 similar to heist five years later

Carter was also unarmed when he committed his second bank robbery — the heist of the First National Bank at 114 E. Carson St. on Pittsburgh's South Side on Nov. 1, 2018. Carter did little to hide his identity, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in that case.

Carter was wearing "just a baseball hat and dark clothing but no mask or gloves" when he walked into the bank, approached the teller counter and presented a note that stated, "This is a robbery. Give me large bills," according to another court filing from the federal prosecutor in that case.

"At the same time," according to the filing, "Mr. Carter told the teller that it was a bank robbery and that he wanted large bills. The victim teller emptied the drawer and Carter took $1,000, according to the filing.

Investigators identified Carter, then a Pittsburgh resident, as the bank robber by tracking the getaway car and obtaining fingerprints from it, the U.S. Attorney's Office said at the time. Carter was arrested in early 2019 and pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery in September 2019.

The federal sentencing guidelines recommended that Carter get a prison term in the range of 37 months to 46 months, according to court records. The defense asked for a sentence of 30 months, or 2½ years, which Carter received along with the three years of supervised release.

Carter got a much stiffer sentence in his first bank robbery. The available records in that case are limited because of the age of the case. But they show that Carter was indicted and arrested in April 2002, while he was in North Carolina, and was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in May 2002.

He pleaded guilty to a count of bank robbery in March 2003 and was sentenced in July 2003. Carter got eight years in federal prison and three years of supervised release, according to court records.

Carter has sought programs to help with life outside prison

While he has been in prison, Carter has petitioned the courts to get out. He made requests with a judge in August and November 2020 to get released to a halfway house to finish serving his sentence in the 2018 bank robbery.

Carter was unsuccessful in those attempts.

In his letter to the judge in August 2020, he described himself as a "homeless veteran" in need of help. In his letter in November 2020, he said he wanted to get into programs at a halfway house to help him adapt to life outside of prison.

"I would like to be given due consideration," Carter wrote in that letter, dated Nov. 14, 2020, "and the opportunity to adjust and prepare for reentry into the community."

Staff writer Tim Hahn contributed to this report.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: In Erie PNC Bank heist, serial bank robber charged with striking again