Middletown Residents Robbed Banks Inside Stop & Shop Stores: Feds

MIDDLETOWN, CT — Two Middletown residents are accused of robbing several People’s United Bank branches in Stop & Shop stores in Connecticut this summer, according to authorities.

Gino Rizzo, 28, and Jalania Pantano, 27, were arrested Tuesday on an indictment charging them with bank robbery offenses, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery announced in a news release.

The FBI and several local police departments have been investigating multiple robberies that occurred this summer at People’s United Bank branches located in Stop & Shop supermarkets in Connecticut.

In the indictment, Rizzo is accused of robbing People’s United Bank branches located in Stop & Shop supermarkets in Glastonbury on July 16 and in Newington on July 18. Authorities said Rizzo and Pantano also robbed a People’s United Bank branch located in a Stop & Shop in West Hartford on July 20.

The three-count indictment was returned by a grand jury in Bridgeport on Aug. 17.

Rizzo and Pantano appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia in New Haven on Tuesday and were ordered detained, according to officials.

The charge of bank robbery carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison, officials said.