Bay Shore man found guilty in Hempstead bank robbery, prosecutors say

The man who acted as a lookout has been found guilty in the violent armed robbery of a Hempstead bank that netted $375,000 in 2015, prosecutors announced on Friday.

Anael Sainfil, 22, of Bay Shore, was convicted by a federal jury on three counts: conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, armed bank robbery and brandishing firearms during a crime of violence, federal officials said.

Federal jurors reached their verdict Thursday after a four-day trial in Central Islip before Senior U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler.

“The brazen violence carried out by the defendant Anael Sainfil and his co-conspirators will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue wrote in a statement. “This Office, together with our law enforcement partners, is committed to protecting the public from those who put the lives of men, women and children in our community in jeopardy.”

Sainfil’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.

Sainfil’s conviction comes a month after Quincy Homere of Baldwin pleaded guilty in the case — just days after he and another Long Islander were charged in the shooting death of rapper Lionel Pickens, also known as Chinx.

Sainfil and his eight co-conspirators hatched their plan to rob a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Hempstead on Nov. 9, 2015, prosecutors said. Sainfil acted as the lookout as the others, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle and other weapons, entered the bank, prosecutors said.

Homere, who went in with an AK-47 rifle, struck a bank employee in the face with the butt of the weapon during the robbery, prosecutors said.

He was also caught on a surveillance photo pointing the weapon at a victim’s head while bank workers opened the vault.

The robbers emptied the vault, making off with $375,000, federal officials said.

After taking over the bank, the robbers restrained tellers and customers — including an 8-year-old boy — with zip ties, prosecutors said.

During the heist, one of the tellers placed a wireless GPS tracker with the stolen money, federal officials said. As a result, Hempstead Police Department officers were able to chase and catch one of the gunmen, prosecutors said.

All nine suspects in the heist were later caught, including Sainfil, who was arrested in December 2016. The stolen cash was also recovered, prosecutors said.

Sainfil faces a minimum of 7 years in prison, and a maximum of life imprisonment, prosecutors said.