Man pleads guilty to 2 Butler County bank robberies

Credit: FILE

Credit: FILE

A Trenton man charged in two bank robberies last year has admitted to the heists, one of which police say was motivated in order to purchase an engagement ring.

Dustin F. Pedersen, 36, of North Miami Street, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of robbery before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster. He faces a maximum of eight years in prison on each charge. Sentencing is scheduled for June 4.

Pedersen was indicted in February for robbing the Fifth Third Bank in Trenton on Dec. 16 and the US Bank on Tylers Place Boulevard in West Chester Twp. on Dec. 22. According to Trenton police, he presented his girlfriend with an engagement ring the day after the robbery in their city.

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Records from Zales jewelry store indicated Pedersen purchased a ring worth just under $4,500 less than an hour after the Dec. 16 robbery.

According to the facts of the case, Pedersen walked into the bank wearing sunglasses, a jacket, white gloves and an orange Titleist hat.

“He passed a note asking for $20,000 with no dye packs,” Trenton Police Detective Sean Gill said in a hearing earlier this year. He also indicated he had a bomb strapped to himself.

As the teller counted out the money, the robber grabbed the first stack and ran, Gill said. He got $8,800.

Pedersen was not developed as a suspect until the Dec. 22 bank robbery when Gill said he received a call from a woman who said Pedersen was on Facebook wearing hats that the robber in both heists had also worn.

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A neighbor’s outdoor security cameras caught Pedersen leaving the residence on the morning of Dec. 16 wearing the same clothing as the robber.

Found in a car driven by Pedersen were the sunglasses, gloves and hat police believe he wore in the robberies, according to police.

Pedersen has been housed in the Butler County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond since his arrest.

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