An East Liberty man has been handed a federal sentence amounting to over nine years in prison following a string of bank heists. Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced that United States District Judge Marilyn J. Horan imposed a 110-month term of imprisonment on 31-year-old Rashon Coleman, with an additional three years of supervised release upon completion of his incarceration.
During his criminal spree, which began on April 10, 2023, Coleman executed a brazen daylight robbery—shoving a plastic bag that appeared to be concealing a weapon at an unsuspecting bank teller, demanding a lofty sum of $50,000, and leaving the scene with merely $904, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The very next day, walking into another bank, Coleman rowdily demanded cash and menacingly threatened to execute everyone present. The demand for money persisted even after Coleman dissected the cash handed to him, insisting on a second helping of the bank's deposits, absconding with about $4,344.
Coleman's wrongdoings didn't escape the swift gaze of the law, as officers, responding to a bank's distress call, found Coleman walking casually down the street, a bag carrying both the facsimile firearm and the stolen cash in tow. His confession to the two bank robberies came shortly before he was charged in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and was subsequently relocated to a community detention facility.
However, on May 20, 2023, with a glimmer of freedom offered to him by the facility, Coleman slipped away from the authorities. On that same day, he revisited his criminal proclivities, targeting the same bank he had victimized at the beginning of his spree. Instructing the petrified bank staff to get down, he demanded $20,000 and implied violent repercussions, which included a successful raid of the vault that previously stood beyond his reach. Fleeing with more than $25,000, Coleman was quickly spotted by authorities.
Assistant United States Attorney Carl J. Spindler was at the helm of the prosecution for the government. The effective collaboration between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police was lauded by Acting United States Attorney Rivetti as it paved the way for Coleman's successful prosecution.
