By Terri T. Johnson

Staff writer

ttjohnso@observer-reporter.com

Daniel Famularo and Robert Loar had $834 from a November bank robbery in Fredericktown for about 90 minutes before they were caught.

On Tuesday, the two stood in Washington County Court before Judge Janet Moschetta Bell and entered guilty pleas to the Nov. 15 robbery of the Northwest Savings Bank branch.

Famularo, 50, who lived with Loar at the time of the robbery at 172 Fourth St., Pitt Gas, Clarksville, was sentenced to 6 to 12 years in a state penitentiary. He entered guilty pleas to robbery, criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, escape, defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.

Famularo was charged with entering the bank numerous times beginning in October and asking how to open an account. A week before the robbery, Famularo was seen inside the bank with a disguise and an empty plastic bag from Wal-Mart. When an employee approached him and startled him, Famularo ran out of the bank, saying it was a prank.

On Nov. 15, Famularo and Loar walked into the bank at 12:58 p.m. with Famularo holding a gun. He tossed a bag at a teller, in which she placed money, and the pair fled.

In court Tuesday, Famularo said the gun was a plastic toy that he later threw in the Monongahela River. It was not recovered.

He said Loar did not carry a weapon.

No one in the bank was injured, and Famularo said he apologized to the bank teller at his preliminary hearing, adding he told her he would not have hurt her.

No family members of Famularo or Loar were in the courtroom.

Loar, 59, entered guilty pleas to robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery. He was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in a state penitentiary.

Famularo has a recent criminal record including a six-month sentence in Washington County Jail in 2007. On March 6, 2007, he didn't return from a furlough until he turned himself in 13 days later. He told Moschetta Bell he wanted to see his mother before she died.

Loar's only criminal record is a conviction for receiving stolen property in 1981 in connection with a 1976 incident.

Both men are single with grown children and were unemployed at the time of the robbery. Famularo, who said he previously worked on river tow boats, admitted to a drug and alcohol addiction. Loar denied any involvement with drugs or alcohol.

Moschetta Bell ordered both to have drug and alcohol evaluations and to have no contact with any Northwest Savings Banks or its employees for the remainder of their lives. They are not to have contact with each other in prison.

"I'm sorry for, you know, for what happened," Loar told the judge.

He attributed the robbery to "stupidity."

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