HONESDALE -- A Lake Ariel man will spend the next 4.5 to 12 years in State Prison for robbing the NBT Bank in Lake Ariel on Feb. 12 and brandishing a gun .
Wayne County District Attorney Patrick Robinson said Aaron Gould, 39, of Lake Ariel made off with nearly $13,000 and also stole a getaway car from one of the bank employees. He was arrested nearly a month later, in the stolen car, in Kingston.
DA Robinson siad, “The defendant obviously has some mental health issues and he is a 30 to 40 bag a day heroin addict. However, anytime one robs a bank brandishing a firearm one puts bank employees, bank customers, responding officers and the community at large at great risk.
"That is true even if the firearm is later found to be a pellet gun as claimed by the defendant. Heroin is evil and every effort must be employed to combat its distribution and possession.”
Gould pleaded guilty in Wayne County Court, and was sentenced by Senior Judge Raymond Hamill on Thursday to 54 to 180 months in a State Correctional Facility. He was also ordered to pay restitution of nearly $16,500 in restitution.