Getaway Driver Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Prison for Two Bank Robberies

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland
June 10, 2010

BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr., sentenced Keith Osterman, age 28, of Denton, Maryland, today to 126 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chief William Ryan of the Elkton Police Department; and Harford County Sheriff L. Jesse Bane.

According to Osterman’s guilty plea, on March 9, 2009, Osterman’s associate entered the Cecil Bank and placed a note on the counter demanding money. As the teller was complying with the demand, the associate displayed what appeared to be a black handgun in his waistband and brandished a shotgun. Fearing for her safety and that of others in the banks, the teller placed $6,249 on the counter, which the associate grabbed, left the bank and got into a waiting pick-up truck, being driven by Osterman, so they could flee the scene. Earlier that day, Osterman had entered the bank and scoped out the location to assist in the robbery. Osterman and the associate were apprehended in the truck and money from this bank robbery was recovered from the truck. A subsequent search of the truck revealed a loaded Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun under the passenger seat. Osterman admitted that he was also the getaway driver for a bank robbery committed three days earlier, on March 6, at the Cecil Bank at 114 E. Pulaski Highway in Elkton, Maryland, where $2,258 was stolen in a similar manner.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney P. Michael Cunningham, who prosecuted the case.