A Portland bank robber whose parents recognized his picture from a surveillance camera image in the news was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.

Thomas A. Monat, 43, who has no permanent address, wore a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses and a baseball cap when he entered University Credit Union at 391 Forest Ave. in Portland shortly before 4 p.m. on Sept. 25, 2015, and handed a teller a note.

A surveillance photo of Thomas A. Monat recorded Sept. 25, 2015, during the robbery of the University Credit Union in Portland. Photo courtesy of Portland police

But he wore nothing over his face, making him immediately recognizable on surveillance camera footage to anyone who knew him, according to a police report in Monat’s case file.

Monat was sentenced by Justice Paul Fritzsche after pleading guilty at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland to a felony charge of robbery.

The note Monat passed to the teller said he had a gun and wanted money, but he never showed a weapon, Detective Richard Vogel wrote in the report.

Monat stole $1,727 in cash, escaped on a bicycle and was last seen riding from Preble Street north on Forest Avenue, Vogel wrote.

Within hours, a corrections officer from the Cumberland County Jail, where Monat had served time, contacted police to say that he recognized Monat from the surveillance image that appeared in the media. The next day, Monat’s parents went to Portland police headquarters to say they, too, recognized their son from the surveillance image, the report says.

After Monat’s arrest last Sept. 26, he told Vogel that he was a drug addict and that he robbed the credit union to get cash to repay a debt to drug dealers who had threatened to kill him.

Monat told Vogel that he met with the drug dealers shortly after the robbery and gave them all the money he had stolen, the report says.

Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: scottddolan

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