BERLIN — One of two Pennsylvania men arrested in July 2013 in connection with the armed robbery of the PNC Bank on Route 50 in West Ocean City, the last in a two-state spree over the course of about a week, was sentenced this week in federal court to 22 years in prison.
Dale Mentzer, 37, of Newmanstown, Pa., was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to 22 years for his role in the drug-crazed armed robbery spree across two states that ended with the armed robbery of a bank in West Ocean City on July 23, 2013. Mentzer had already been sentenced to 15 years last June for his conviction in the West Ocean City armed robbery, and at the request of federal prosecutors, his 22-year sentence handed down in U.S. District Court this week will be served consecutively to the 15-year sentence he received in Worcester County Circuit Court.
Mentzer’s co-conspirator in the two-state spree, Heath Derizzo, 38, of Harrisburg, Pa., had the charges against him dropped in Worcester when he was indicted in federal court for his role in the armed robbery spree. Derizzo has also been found guilty in U.S. District Court and his scheduled to be sentenced on May 13.
In Mentzer’s case, the federal judge had the discretion to impose his sentence concurrent or consecutive to his sentence in Worcester County Circuit Court.
However, in a pre-sentence memorandum, federal prosecutors pushed for a consecutive sentence, pointing out Mentzer might only serve a fraction of his sentence in Maryland.
“It must be noted that it is highly unlikely that Mentzer will serve anywhere near the 15-year sentence he earned in Maryland,” the memorandum reads. “In Maryland, a prisoner like Mentzer, who is serving a sentence of imprisonment for commission of a violent crime is eligible for parole one he has served one half of the imposed sentence. Moreover, the length of that sentence is subject to a constant downward adjustment due to a system of diminution credits, which steadily reduces the imposed sentence while concurrently advancing his parole eligibility date.”
The memorandum points out Maryland’s good behavior and other credits in support of a consecutive sentence rather than a concurrent sentence. When sentencing Mentzer this week, the federal judge agreed and sentenced him to the full 22 years after his sentence in the Worcester County conviction is completed.
Mentzer and Derizzo began their spree on July 19, 2013 with the robbery of farm store in rural Pennsylvania and the list of holdups they were connected to included five banks and two markets or farm stores or nurseries including the PNC Bank in West Ocean City on July 23. Shortly after 9 a.m. on July 23, 2013, unidentified suspects entered the PNC Bank branch on Route 50 and demanded money and then fled the scene. No injuries were reported, nor were any weapons displayed. Early on in the investigation, with the help of media and social networks circulating surveillance images of the suspects, a possible connection was developed to a series of bank robberies in Pennsylvania the week before.
Maryland State Police and Worcester County Sheriff’s Office investigators continued to follow up on leads and search for the two suspects in the hours following the West Ocean City bank robbery. Later that same night, Derizzo and Mentzer were located in a motel room in Salisbury and were taken into custody without further incident.
Search warrants were issued and executed on the motel room in Salisbury where Derizzo and Mentzer were found and arrested and evidence was collected connecting them to the West Ocean City bank robbery earlier that day. The investigation revealed Derizzo was also wanted by the Pennsylvania State Police on an outstanding warrant for parole violations and additional charges for robbery. Mentzer was also wanted in Pennsylvania for an outstanding arrest warrant for armed robbery.
According to court records, the robbery spree began a few days earlier in Pennsylvania when Mentzer and Derizzo allegedly began the holdups to finance a crack cocaine binge they had been on for weeks. A cooperating witness close to the pair told police from late June through July 23, Derizzo and Mentzer, longtime friends, were on a crack cocaine binge and were hitting banks and businesses when they started running out of money.
On July 19, Derizzo and Mentzer entered a farm stand in Northhampton County, Pa. and brandished a gun and demanded money from the clerk, who was working alone. When the clerk was unable to provide any money to the suspects, Derizzo and Mentzer directed her to a locked business trailer on the site. The victim was forced to climb inside and sustained injuries from the broken glass. Once inside, Derizzo and Mentzer removed computer equipment and a cash drawer containing roughly $50. The suspects also took personal property from then victim including her purse, identification cards and a cell phone.