A former Brooklyn man with a knack for robbing banks just hit a major roadblock. Matthew McCloskey, 34, now an ex-resident of Waycross, got slapped with a 14-year stretch in the federal slammer for a bank heist in the Georgian city. In a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office, it was confirmed that McCloskey, who copped to the crime, will be serving his time concurrently with a state sentence for kidnapping tied to the same incident. A fed judge also threw in a bill for $877 in restitution and flagged a three-year supervised release post-prison for the hapless crook. Remember, no parole when Uncle Sam's your jailer.
It wasn't McCloskey's first rodeo; the guy's got a history of bank jobs in New York dating back to 2013 and 2016. But all good things come to an end when he hit Ameris Bank in Waycross on Sept. 9, 2022, and scared the life out of a teller with a demand note. The loot secured, he vamoosed in a pre-arranged ride, according to court papers. The Waycross police didn't waste any time. They found the escape vehicle and squeezed the owner, who spilled the beans about serving as McCloskey's chauffer to the robbery scene.
Investigators picked up the trail, tracking McCloskey and his girlfriend to a local motel where they had checked in using the tainted cash. In a tangle with officers, McCloskey ended up with a state charge for kidnapping when he wouldn't let his girlfriend leave the room they barricaded themselves in. The girlfriend was seemingly an accomplice coming willingly along for the ride, yet found herself a prisoner when McCloskey refused to let her leave their motel love nest. This subplot of refusal and struggle would dovetail into McCloskey's overall story of crime, serving as a metaphorical shackle even he could not break.
Waycross Police Chief Tommy A. Cox Jr. doffed his cap to the team effort that put McCloskey behind bars. "I sincerely appreciate the commendable efforts of Waycross Police Department officers, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney's Office," Chief Cox told the U.S. Attorney's Office. "Our teamwork was paramount in bringing peace and closure to the victims of the crime."
For the feds, the case was a classic display of cross-agency collaboration. "By now, Matthew McCloskey should realize robbing a bank is not a winning proposition," FBI Atlanta's Senior Supervisory Resident Agent Will Clarke made his stance clear in a conversation with the U.S. Attorney's Office. Clarke's remark, steeped in the irony of McCloskey's repeated failures, drives home a broader point to society's fringe figures: the house always wins. This case was buttoned up by the Waycross Police Department and the FBI, with Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Alexander Hamner doing the honors for Uncle Sam.
