Bank Robber Sentenced

To Four Years In Prison

By Andrew Gorosko

The New York State woman who robbed six banks during a two-day period last May, including the Queen Street branch of People’s Bank in Newtown, has been sentenced to four years in prison, plus three years of probation for the crimes.

Pamela Kaichen, 44, of Bedford Hills, N.Y., received the prison sentence February 2 in New Haven federal court from US Judge Ellen Bree Burns. Kaichen robbed the bank in Newtown last May 22. She robbed three more banks later that day.

On May 21 and 22, Kaichen stole a total of more than $42,000 from People’s Bank in Newtown, First Union Bank in Danbury, Union Savings Bank in Brookfield, Fleet Bank in Danbury, The Bank of New York in Shrub Oak, N.Y., and HSBC Bank in Scarsdale, N.Y. Investigators later recovered all of the stolen money in Kaichen’s apartment.

Investigators obtained a strong lead into solving the robberies after a Danbury police officer recollected late on May 22 that a woman motorist, whom he had ticketed that morning for failure to wear a seatbelt, was the same woman who was recorded in bank robbery surveillance photos.

Judge Burns sentenced Kaichen to a four-year prison term for each of the bank robberies, all of which will be served concurrently, according to the US Department of Justice. Individual bank robbery convictions can carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years, plus large fines.

Other conditions of the sentence require that Kaichen make full restitution and undergo a mental health treatment program while in prison. Kaichen must continue her mental health treatment after leaving prison.

Late on the morning of last May 22, People’s Bank at Newtown Shopping Village at 6 Queen Street was the target of Kaichen’s well-planned, low-key bank robbery. There were no injuries. Kaichen fled with several thousand dollars.

The People’s Bank robbery was the first bank robbery in Newtown since a March 2000 bank robbery at Fleet Bank at the same shopping center. The Fleet Bank robbery was the first bank robbery in Newtown in decades.

According to a police report, “At approximately 11:32 am, a lone female entered the bank, waited in line and then approached a teller, demanding money from her drawer…The suspect indicated she had a weapon, at which time the teller complied…The suspect then walked out of the bank and drove away in a red vehicle before police were notified.”

Although Kaichen never showed a weapon in People’s Bank, she told the bank teller that she would start shooting if police were notified of the robbery. All told, the woman was in the bank for “a few minutes” before fleeing with the stolen money.

Kaichen then left the shopping center driving a small red automobile, with New York marker plates, entered Queen Street and drove away. At that time, Kaichen was wearing a long, light blond wig as a disguise.

According to the Justice Department, following the events of September 11, 2001, Kaichen volunteered her services once a week at a Salvation Army facility operating near the site of the destroyed World Trade Center in Manhattan. She purportedly robbed the six banks to benefit the victims of the September 11 tragedy.

In court, prosecutors explained that Kaichen had threatened bank tellers and had evoked the September 11 tragedy while doing so. Federal prosecutors had strong evidence of her guilt in the bank robberies, they said.

The judge reportedly gave Kaichen a relatively light prison sentence because the judge believes the grief Kaichen experienced due to the World Trade Center tragedy triggered her criminal actions.  

“A bank robbery is never a victimless crime. Bank employees and bank customers who witness a robbery experience a real threat of harm,” US Attorney Kevin J. O’Connor said in a statement.

“This office will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute [bank robberies] to the fullest extent. If you rob a bank in Connecticut, you will get caught, and you will spend time in prison,” he said.