Bank Robbing Transit Cop Gets 10 Years, More to Come

Former New York City transit officer Christian Torres, 22, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for his armed robbery of $113,000 from a Reading, PA bank last April. You may recall that Torres's arrest in Reading came a year after his two successful 2007 robberies at a Sovereign branch in the East Village; he persuaded an ex-girlfriend who worked at the bank help him with those jobs, which netted him about $100,000. His lawyer tells the AP, "I think the fact that they got away with it empowered them, it sort of led to the next one, and then the next one. It is a shame. He's a bright kid, and he seems like a nice kid." Torres has cooperated with Sovereign Bank officials since his arrest to help them improve security (like not hiring scheming employees?), and U.S. District Judge Thomas Golden sentenced Torres at the bottom of the sentencing range. But he still faces charges for the two East Village bank heists; his lawyer says he's waiting to see the evidence before deciding if he'll try plea-bargaining on those charges.