A Glendale man could spend the next two decades in federal prison after pleading guilty this week to robbing three banks in Queens last summer.
Justin Gass, 39, entered guilty pleas to three bank robbery counts in U.S. Eastern District Court in Brooklyn. A source for the U.S. Attorney’s office said Gass could be ordered at his June 18 sentencing hearing to serve up to 20 years behind bars.
Federal prosecutors said that Gass admitted to swiping cash from banks in Maspeth, Astoria and Sunnyside between Aug. 17 and Sept. 14, 2018. In January, he had been indicted for committing additional heists in Jackson Heights and Brooklyn.
In each of the capers, law enforcement sources noted, Gass walked into the branch and presented a demand note. The tellers provided him with undisclosed sums of money.
The pattern began in Maspeth on Aug. 17, 2018, when Gass stole money from the Valley National Bank at 64-01 Grand Ave. Three weeks later, on the morning of Sept. 8, he robbed the Alma Bank at 41-02 Broadway in Astoria. Finally, he swiped cash from the chase bank at 47-11 Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside on Sept. 14.
During the Sunnyside caper, federal prosecutors said, Gass provided a teller with a demand note, then motioned to his waistband to signal that he was armed.
The New York Daily News reported that Gass had been paroled last June after serving 13 months of a state prison sentence for grand larceny and forgery.
At his March 12 court appearance, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said, Gass admitted to having a long-term drug issue after the judge asked if he had been receiving medical treatment.
