Second Man Charged in 2020 Gunpoint Robbery of People’s Bank in New Canaan

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Authorities on Friday arrested a 50-year-old Stamford man in connection with the October 2020 gunpoint robbery of a bank on Main Street in New Canaan.

Frank Pensiero was charged in the Oct. 28, 2020 robbery at People’s United Bank in New Canaan, as well as two other robberies in Fairfield and Stratford on Oct. 13, 2020, according to a press release issued by Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Jean Pierre Njock, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Haven Division.

In New Canaan, Pensiero displayed a handgun to a teller, provided her with a note demanding money, verbally threatened to kill her and other employees and ordered them to lie on the floor. Together with an associate—Wayne Currier, arrested in June 2021—Pensiero stolen $9,130 during the robbery, then fled in a red Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS.

Currier had been living on East Maple Street in New Canaan at the time of the Oct. 20 robbery, according to police. The getaway car used in the robbery had been parked on East Maple immediately after the crime, police said (and found torched the following morning on nearby Green Avenue).

On Oct. 13, 2020, the pair robbed a Chase Bank in Stratford, according to the press release.

“During the robbery, Pensiero’s associate displayed a handgun on the teller counter and presented the teller with a note that read ‘this is a robbery give me all your money,’ ” it said. “The teller provided Pensiero’s associate with approximately $1,000 and Pensiero and his associate exited the bank.” They would steal another $5,458 at a People’s United Bank Fairfield, it said.

The charge of bank robbery carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, the press release said.

Currier already has been convicted of charges connected to the robberies.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI and New Canaan, Stratford and Fairfield Police Departments.

M&T Bank now operates out of 95 Main St. in New Canaan, formerly People’s.

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