FAYETTEVILLE — A Louisiana man will serve 20 years in prison for robbing the Bank of Fayetteville’s "train bank" on Dickson Street last January.
Robert Joseph Cosimini Jr., 29, pleaded guilty Thursday to a reduced charge of robbery as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
He was initially charged with aggravated robbery and faced 40 years in prison.
Cosimini walked into the bank Jan. 14 and slipped a note to a bank employee, demanding money. He was arrested five hours later at the Comfort Inn & Suites on Steamboat Drive, off West Wedington Drive, after purchasing a bus ticket to Louisiana.
He had been held at Washington County Detention Center on $10,000 bail since January.
The Dickson Street bank is in a former railroad passenger car across from what was once the train depot.
The bank was never a target for robbers until this year. Last month, it was robbed a second time by a stocky white male thought to be in his 20s to early 30s who handed a teller a note demanding money.
Police have made no arrests in that case.