- Melissa Aquino Arias, 23, went on a bank robbery spree across two states
- Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez, 19, pled guilty to the same crimes earlier in June
- They dressed in full nun’s habits, and wore sunglasses to hide their identities
- They are accused of attempting to rob banks in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
- Aquino faces 41 years behind bars when she is sentenced in September
A New Jersey woman has admitted her role in a monthlong crime spree across two states, including an attempted bank robbery in Pennsylvania where she and another woman dressed as nuns.
Melisa Aquino Arias also pleaded guilty Friday 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.
The 23-year-old Passaic woman faces up to 41 years in prison when she’s sentenced Sept. 21.
Two women charged with robbing a pair of New Jersey banks are also suspected of trying to rob a bank in Pennsylvania while dressed as nuns
The FBI released still from surveillance footage at the Tannersville, Pennsylvania, bank
The pleas came just weeks after her co-defendant, 19-year-old Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez, of New Haven, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to the same offenses.
They were arrested about two weeks after the Garfield robbery, when they went to a Teaneck bank and asked about opening an account. An employee there recognized them and called police.
Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez, 19, and Melisa Aquino Arias, 23, are shown in undated mug shots. Both were charged in two bank robberies in the past month and are suspected of a third
The robbers in Pennsylvania ran away without money after an alarm was triggered
Surveillance footage shows a woman leaving the Tannersville bank with sunglasses on to hide her identity
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