Court affirms conviction, sentence of man who robbed two banks in Ulster County
KINGSTON, N.Y. » An appeals court has upheld the conviction and prison sentence of a Greene County man who admitted robbing banks in Saugerties in New Paltz.
Collin Lambert, a 49-year-old Tannersville resident, pleaded guilty in September 2014 to two felony counts of robbery, and he was sentenced in October 2014 by Ulster County Judge Donald A. Williams to two consecutive terms of three to six years in state prison. Lambert appealed, but the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department, said in a ruling issued Thursday that Lambert had waived his right to appeal as part of the deal under which he pleaded guilty.
“Defendant stated that he understood and agreed to waive his right to appeal, and then signed a detailed written waiver of appeal in open court after reviewing it with counsel and indicating that he had no questions about it,” the decision states.
At the sentencing, Williams ordered Lambert to pay more than $1,600 in restitution to the Key Bank branch in Saugerties and more than $1,500 to the Chase branch in New Paltz. The judge also issued an order of protection that bars Lambert from contacting either bank.
Lambert was charged on March 12, 2014, with the felonies of robbery and grand larceny for a Jan. 11, 2013, heist at the Key Bank branch at 258 Main St. in the village of Saugerties and a Dec. 6, 2013, holdup of a First Credit Union branch in the Mohawk Valley city of Herkimer.
A short time later, New Paltz police charged Lambert with the April 2, 2013, robbery of the Chase Bank branch at 2 Plattekill Ave. in the village.
Williams, at the sentencing, said Lambert was a “persistent felony offender,” noting an earlier robbery charge against him in the Rochester area.