Woman sentenced for crime spree, robbing bank dressed as nun

NEWARK » A Connecticut woman is headed to prison

for her role in a monthlong crime spree in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including an attempted bank robbery in which she and another woman dressed as nuns.

Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez received a 15-month sentence Thursday. The 20-yearold New Haven woman had pleaded guilty in June to robbing a bank in Garfield, New Jersey, while wearing a head covering and conspiring to steal money from an ATM at a bank in Scotrun, Pennsylvania.

Her co-defendant, 24-yearold Melisa Aquino Arias of Passaic, New Jersey, received a 37-month sentence Wednesday.

The pair were arrested last October, about two weeks after the Garfield robbery, when they went to a Teaneck bank and asked about opening an account. An employee recognized them and called police.