Ex-Middletown Resident Sentenced In Federal Bank Robbery Case

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A former Middletown resident is to spend two-and-a-half years in prison in connection with a Connecticut bank robbery spree.

Middletown police had a hand in the investigation, along with by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that Jalania Pantino, 28, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a role in a West Hartford bank robbery last year.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on July 20, 2022, Pantano and her boyfriend, Gino Rizzo, entered a branch of the then-People's United Bank inside the Stop & Shop Supermarket at 176 Newington Road in West Hartford. They presented to two different notes to tellers that stated, "Give us the money with no dye packs or GPS," according to case records.

The tellers provided Pantano and Rizzo with an estimated total of $1,599 in cash and they exited the supermarket, according to case records.

Rizzo, in similar fashion, had previously robbed then-People's United Bank Stop & Shop branches in Glastonbury on July 16, 2022, and in Newington on July 18, 2022, according to case records.

Rizzo was arrested on July 21, 2022, and Pantano was arrested on Aug. 30, 2022.

On April 11 of this year, while on pre-trial release, Pantano and Rizzo each disconnected their GPS electronic monitoring bracelets and absconded from their court-mandated rehabilitation centers. Pantano has been detained since her rearrest on May 24 and on Aug, 23, she pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery.

Rizzo has been detained since his re-arrest on May 22. He pleaded guilty on July 25, and is awaiting sentencing.