East Liberty Man Sentenced to Over Nine Years in Prison for Series of Bank Robberies

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 110 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on his conviction of bank robbery, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

United States District Judge Marilyn J. Horan imposed the sentence on Rashon Coleman, 31, of the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

According to information presented to the Court, on April 10, 2023, a subject later identified as Coleman walked into a bank, shoved a white plastic grocery bag appearing to contain a gun at the teller, and demanded $50,000 in cash. Coleman left the bank with approximately $904 given to him by the teller. The following day, Coleman entered a different bank nearby the first and shouted at the tellers to give him all of the money. Upon receiving money from one of the tellers, Coleman ordered everyone to the ground, threatening to shoot them all if they did not comply. He examined the cash he’d received from the teller and then demanded more, threatening to shoot one of the tellers in the head if they didn’t follow his instructions. A teller went to the vault and returned with additional cash, which she gave to Coleman, who then fled through the bank’s front door, this time, with approximately $4,344.

Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers responding to the alarm noticed Coleman, who matched the description of the robbery suspect, walking down the street from the bank. The officers stopped Coleman and found him in possession of a bag containing a toy gun and a large amount of cash. Coleman later confessed to robbing both banks, and subsequently was charged with the two robberies in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, where he was granted alternative housing at a community detention facility.

On May 20, 2023, Coleman was granted permission to leave that facility for a short period but failed to return at the designated time. The same day, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers responded to a bank robbery in progress at the same bank that Coleman had robbed on April 10, 2023, where the subject, again later determined to be Coleman, had walked in yelling that he was robbing the bank and instructing everyone to get down. He demanded $20,000 in cash and threatened to start “popping” people if he didn’t get the money, also forcing one of the bank’s employees to open a security door leading to the vault that Coleman had been unable to breach during his first robbery of the bank. Coleman fled with more than $25,000 and a short time later was found by police inside a nearby store, where he was positively identified and had a bag containing the cash.

Assistant United States Attorney Carl J. Spindler prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pittsburgh Bureau of Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Coleman.