Md. Man Gets 30 Years For Bank Holdups

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A Maryland man was sentenced Friday to 30 years in federal prison after admitting to several bank robberies that netted a total of more than $1 million.

Mustafa Khalil Naeem, 57, of Marlboro pleaded guilty to three charges related to the Sept. 25, 2009, robbery of the Virginia Partner's Bank in Fredericksburg, However, he also took responsibility for 19 other bank heists from June 2004 through September 2009 from Maryland to South Carolina.

"No question you are a professional and very skilled bank robber," U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson told Naeem before imposing a sentence that was part of a plea agreement. Hudson said the armed robberies "left an indelible scar" on bank employees, including some tellers who were so traumatized they were unable to return to work.

"The recommendation here is about the lowest this court could accept," Hudson said, adding that had Naeem not cooperated with investigators he almost certainly would have received a life sentence. Naeem already had spent 29 of his last 44 years imprisoned for other robberies, the judge noted.

Given the opportunity to address the court, Naeem praised the professionalism of the prosecutor, public defender and FBI agent who worked his case but said nothing about his crimes or the victims.

According to court papers, Naeem's most recent string of bank holdups began with a $27,000 robbery of the Old Line Bank in Waldorf, Md., in 2004 and ended with the $14,000 heist in Fredericksburg a little over five years later.

Witnesses to the Virginia Partner's Bank robbery said a man armed with a handgun and wearing gloves, a ball cap and a scarf over his nose and mouth ordered two bank employees to the floor, jumped over a counter and ordered a teller to open a cash drawer. The man took the cash and fled in a car that was later traced to
Naeem.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)