Woman sentenced for crime spree, robbing bank dressed as nun

NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey woman is headed to prison for 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 received a 37-month sentence Wednesday. The 24-year-old Passaic woman had pleaded guilty in June 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 guilty plea came just weeks after her co-defendant, 20-year-old Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez, of New Haven, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to the same offences.

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 recognized them and called police.