By Jeremy Walsh
A Maspeth woman arrested as part of an Internet−based robbery operation pleaded guilty on Long Island last Thursday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.
Agnes Banach, 18, admitted to robbery, grand larceny, conspiracy and attempted robbery and will be sentenced to five years in prison Jan. 22, the Nassau DA’s office said.
“Ms. Banach’s violent actions have left her no other option but to serve time in prison,” Rice said. “We were prepared to take this case to trial before she took responsibility for her actions.”
The robberies began a year ago, the DA said. On Nov. 26, 2007, Banach, then 17, placed an ad on the classified Web site Craigslist, claiming she had a 2006 Porsche to sell. A buyer responded to the ad and was told by Banach, going by the name “Linda,” to come see the vehicle in Freeport, L.I.
When the man and his wife met up with Banach, she dropped her keys, the signal for four accomplices to attack them. The robbery crew made off with a $4,800 down payment and a BlackBerry cell phone, the DA said.
Then, on Dec. 6, 2007, a father and son answered a similar advertisement from Banach, then known as “Lucy,” for a 2002 Porsche, according to Rice.
Banach told the man to bring $22,000 to a Baldwin, L.I., home for a down payment on the car. As the son knocked on the door of the residence, his father was punched multiple times on the sidewalk by Brooklyn resident Chad Greaves, 18, who displayed what appeared to be a firearm and robbed the father of $100. Both father and son then fled the scene on foot.
Banach, Greaves and six others from Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx were arrested within two weeks of the second robbery, the DA said. Greaves and the others pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy and grand larceny charges, according to Rice.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
