Federal Judge Sentences Man Accused Of Robbing Trumbull Bank

Trumbull CT

05 April, 2022

2:25 PM

Description

TRUMBULL, CT — A 73-year-old man was sentenced in federal court to 96 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for committing armed bank robberies, including one in Trumbull, announced U.S. Attorney Leonard C. Boyle. George Bratsenis, who prosecutors said last lived in Bridgeport, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven. Additionally, Bratsenis is awaiting sentencing in connection with a murder-for-hire plot out of New Jersey when he was a Monroe resident. According to court documents and statements in the Trumbull case, Bratsenis met his associate, Bomani Africa, when the two were both incarcerated on robbery convictions in a New Jersey state prison. In April 2014, Bratsenis and Africa robbed a People's United Bank branch on Old Kings Highway Road in Darien, according to prosecutors. Bratsenis, driving his pick-up truck, was the getaway driver. In September of that same year, Bratsenis, Africa and Africa's son, Randi Feliciano, conspired to rob another bank, and Feliciano drove Africa from Philadelphia to a parking lot in Trumbull. In that parking lot, Africa carjacked a vehicle from a victim at gunpoint, according to prosecutors. The next morning, Africa and Bratsenis, both wearing masks and brandishing firearms, robbed a People's United Bank branch on Madison Avenue in Trumbull, stealing nearly $30,000 in cash. After they drove from the scene in the car Africa had carjacked, they parked in a nearby parking lot and set fire to the car. Feliciano drove Africa from the scene and followed Bratsenis to a Norwalk restaurant where the three men divided the proceeds of the robbery, according to prosecutors. Feliciano then drove Africa back to Philadelphia. Bratsenis was arrested a couple of days later on Sept. 28, 2014, in Trumbull. In October 2019, he pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery, and he has been in custody since his arrest. "Bratsenis has a lengthy criminal history that includes a federal conviction for armed bank robbery in April 1984 for which he received a 25-year prison sentence," Boyle wrote in a statement. Africa and Feliciano, both wearing masks and brandishing firearms, also robbed a First Niagara Bank branch on Hawley Lane in Stratford in December 2014, taking more than $15,000 in cash. Africa has been detained since his arrest on May 28, 2015. On December 16, 2015, he pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery, and he awaits sentencing. Feliciano pleaded guilty to the same charge and, on February 21, 2017,was sentenced to 51 months of imprisonment. This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Darien, Trumbull, Stratford and Bridgeport Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale.