Suspect in Austintown, Girard bank robberies has 25-year criminal history
The man captured in Austintown as a suspect in three bank robberies earlier this month has a history of bank robbery convictions dating back eight years and other criminal activity dating back even longer. That history has left a trail of security images and jail booking photos.
James Patrick Verdream Sr. had been scheduled to appear in Austintown Court to answer allegations that he robbed the PNC Bank branch on Mahoning Avenue on May 3, which just happened to be Verdream’s 56th birthday. However, court officials say federal authorities have taken over the case.
Authorities say that same day, Verdream robbed a bank in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania followed by a third robbery of the Chase Bank branch in Girard this past Monday.
The Chase teller reported that the suspect handed her a note saying he had a bomb and a gun, demanding $10,000. The suspect walked out with $1,000, according to a police report.
The following day police say Verdream was spotted at another bank.
Members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Austintown Police Department, chased Verdream to Route 11 in Austintown, eventually arresting him after a foot pursuit.
During a video hearing on Thursday, a federal judge ordered that Verdream should remain in custody until a May 20 detention hearing for allegedly violating the terms of supervised release imposed for three bank robberies in New Mexico.
According to the FBI, on April 22, 2014, Verdream handed a note demanding money to a teller at the New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union in Alberquerque then left the bank in a taxi cab.
Verdream, who was arrested two weeks later near Phoenix, pleaded guilty later that year and in 2015 was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to make restitution to the credit union.
The FBI says it had been looking for Verdream for violating the terms of his parole when he was arrested for robbing the Nusenda Credit Union on March 9, 2018, and the Rio Grande Credit Union on March 13, 2018.
According to a federal indictment, an accomplice drove Verdream to the Rio Grande Credit Union where he passed a demand note to a teller. Verdream took money from the teller, returned to the car, and fled.
Verdream pleaded guilty on December 27, 2018, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
After being released from prison this past November, Verdream moved to Northeast Ohio.
When he was captured earlier this week Federal authorities had been looking for him since this past February for another alleged parole violation.
Verdream’s criminal record began before his bank robberies.
In 2009, Verdream plead guilty to multiple felony counts of fraud in New Mexico.
The year before, according to New Mexico court records, Verdream was convicted of fleeing police and being a habitual offender.
In 1997, Verdream was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison for passing bad checks in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
Two years later, Verdream was sentenced to ten months in prison after being convicted of theft and misuse of credit cards in Trumbull County.
