YOUNGSTOWN - A Youngstown man with a lengthy criminal record has been sentenced to spend the next ten years in federal prison for robbing two Valley banks.

James P. Verdream, 57, was sentenced Thursday after he pleaded guilty to robbing a PNC branch on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown, and a Chase Bank on West Liberty Street in Girard.

On May 2, 2022, Verdream handed a note to the PNC Bank teller which said, “This is a robbery, do not pull the alarm/buzzer.”  Verdream left with $734 according to investigators.

Seven days later Verdream handed the Chase Bank teller a note that said, “I have a gun and a bomb, $10,000.”  The teller indicated that he could only disperse $1,000 and Verdream accepted that amount of money and left.

Using surveillance video, investigators identified the suspect as Verdream.

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.

In addition to the ten-year sentence, Verdream was ordered to serve 3 years of supervised release following imprisonment, pay a $200 special assessment, and pay $1,734 in restitution.  Verdream was also ordered to pay restitution of $3,991 for an uncharged robbery that occurred in Pennsylvania.

Verdream already had a history of bank robbery convictions dating back eight years and other criminal activity dating back even longer.

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.

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.

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.