Man faces prison for robbing bank patron

NORRISTOWN >> A Philadelphia man who robbed a bank patron outside a Cheltenham Township financial institution is on his way to state prison.

Donte Rasheen Peterson Stephens Jr., 28, of the 6600 block of North 21st Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to two to four years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of robbery in connection with the 2:55 p.m. May 20, 2016, incident outside the Wells Fargo Bank, 341 W. Cheltenham Ave., in the Elkins Park section of the township.

Judge Gary S. Silow, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also ordered Stephens to complete two years’ probation after he’s paroled and to pay $800 in restitution to the victim. The judge also ordered Stephens, who was represented by defense lawyer Keith Harbison, to have no contact with the victim of the robbery.

An investigation began as Cheltenham police responded to the bank parking lot for a report of a robbery. The male victim told police he was robbed of $200 and his cellphone while getting out of his vehicle on the parking lot, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim said the robber approached him from behind and repeatedly told him, “Give me that (expletive),” and held his right hand behind his back implying that he had a weapon while leaning toward the victim in a threatening manner, according to court documents.

“(The victim) told me that he feared for his life because he thought the subject, in fact, had a gun on him,” Cheltenham Police Officer Jarreau Francis alleged in the arrest affidavit.

The robber then fled the area in a light blue vehicle, police said.

The victim gave police a description of the robber’s clothing and also noted the robber had several tattoos on his neck and teardrop tattoos under both of his eyes, according to the criminal complaint. Bank employees soon realized that the description of the robber matched a customer who had just been inside the bank.

Police subsequently used bank surveillance photos and other information to develop Stephens as the suspect and they went to Stephens’ Philadelphia residence, court documents indicate. Stephens was subsequently taken into custody outside his home.