70-year-old with gambling addiction guilty of bank robbery

May 03, 2008 07:05 am

— ERIE (AP) _ A 70-year-old man will go to jail for four years and five months for an armed bank robbery that he carried off to try to pay his gambling debt.
Attorneys say Donald Cesare lost more than $15,000 at casinos in 2007, a debt that prompted him to rob an Erie bank in November. During the robbery, Cesare pointed a loaded handgun at a teller and made off with more than $6,000. Cesare pleaded guilty to the charges in January.
Cesare's attorneys say the elderly man has battled a gambling addiction for at least six years. Currently, Cesare is enrolled in a religious-based rehabilitation program.