MATTHEW MASKELL SENTENCED FOR BACKWARD-BANDIT ROBBERIES

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Matthew Maskell, 27, of St. Albans, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington to 77 months of imprisonment for his role in the so-called "backward-bandit" convenience store robberies that occurred this past winter. Chief U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III ordered that Maskell serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and pay restitution totaling 4521. The court ordered that Maskell's federal sentence run concurrently with an unrelated one-year state prison sentence Maskell is presently serving.

In September 2007, a federal grand jury in Burlington handed up a superseding indictment which accused Maskell of conspiring with Ashley Penniman, Gerald LaFlam and Christopher Adams to obstruct or affect commerce by means of robbery. The indictment also accused Maskell of robbing the Hinesburg General Store on January 22, 2007; the Lucky Spot Variety Store in Richmond on January 25, 2007; the Champlain Farms Store in Colchester on January 28, 2007; and the Chittenden Mills Beverage Store in Jericho on January 29, 2007. Under the federal Hobbs Act, it is a violation of federal law for an individual to engage in a robbery which delays, obstructs or affects interstate commerce, or to conspire to do so.

Last October, Maskell pleaded guilty to the first three robberies, admitting that he used a pellet gun as a weapon. The charge relating to the fourth robbery was dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Adams, LaFlam and Penniman all cooperated with the investigation into the robberies and received reduced sentences ranging from 27 to 41 months of imprisonment.

United States Attorney Thomas D. Anderson commends the cooperative effort of several law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation of these robberies, including the Burlington resident agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Vermont State Police; the Hinesburg Community Police Department; the Colchester Police Department; and the Chittenden County State's Attorneys Office.

Maskell is represented by Burlington attorney Douglas Kallen. The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Gregory Waples.