Man gets 18 years for bank robberies

Admits to robbing Eastlake, Wickliffe, Willoughby banks

A man who admitted to a string of bank robberies in western Lake County was sentenced Aug. 5 to 18 years in prison.

Pasquale Cisternino, 48, in February robbed banks in Wickliffe, Eastlake and Willoughby. He was arrested by Cleveland police March 3 after the FBI received a tip regarding his whereabouts.

Cisternino is also accused of a pair of bank robberies in Cuyahoga County in that time frame.

The first Lake County bank robbery occurred Feb. 23 at the Ohio Savings Bank in Wickliffe.

Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Alexandra Kutz said Cisternino told a bank teller that he had a gun, but the teller never saw a weapon. Cisternino made off with $1,300.

The next robbery occurred Feb. 25 at the Dollar Bank in Eastlake. Kutz said Cisternino again told a bank teller he had a weapon and made off with $702.

Cisternino robbed the Chase Bank in Willoughby two days later.

He threatened to harm a teller if she didn’t do as he told her, Kutz said. Cisternino made off with $2,000 from that robbery.

Kutz said Cisternino did not conceal his face in any of the three bank robberies.

The string of robberies occurred about eight months after Cisternino finished a 10-year prison sentence.

Cisternino said he was doing well when he first got out of prison despite having nowhere to go.

“I didn’t even know my mom died,” he said in court.

“I got out in the middle of downtown Youngstown, no bus ticket or nothing. I didn’t let that stop me.”

He received treatment for substance abuse issues and was put on Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction.

He said that medication was stolen and “after three days I felt like I was going to lose my mind.”

Cisternino tearfully said he feels bad for committing the bank robberies.

“I was probably more scared going in them banks than (the bank employees) were,” Cisternino said. “I wasn’t myself, you know? There was no excuse for what I did. And I cooperated (with law enforcement) the whole way. I was glad it was over with.”

Cisternino — who has spent multiple stints in prison — said it was hard to function after spending 10 years behind bars.

“I come home from (Intensive Outpatient Program) one day at the sober house and they’re like ‘you got to leave in the morning because your insurance only covers 60 days,’” he said. “So here I am in below-zero weather, nowhere to go just...that’s no excuse either.”

Cisternino said the turning point was when his Suboxone was stolen. “I feel bad, I really do,” he said.

Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Eugene A. Lucci said Cisternino has a criminal history “substantially all his adult life.” His criminal history includes a number of violent crimes, Lucci said. Cisternino was on post-release control when the bank robberies were committed.

He was indicted June 6 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on aggravated robbery and two robbery counts for the incidents out of that county.

He was arraigned on the charges June 20. No dates have yet been set in that case according to court records.

Three days prior to the Cuyahoga indictment, Cisternino waived his right to have his Lake County cases presented to the grand jury. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree felony robbery and one count of third-degree felony robbery.

Lucci on Aug. 5 ordered Cisternino to pay the roughly $4,000 in restitution to the three banks.

Cisternino