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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The Band-Aid Bandit will be spending 149 and a half years in the slammer.

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday this morning sentenced Rafael Rondon to prison for his role in six bank robberies. Sidekick Emeregildo Roman was sentenced to 126 years, seven months.

“It’s a life sentence and it should be,” Merryday said this morning.

Rondon, 47, of Clermont, and Roman, 54, of Davenport, were convicted in April of conspiring to rob banks across the west coast area of Florida for six years. Rondon, identified as the notorious Band-Aid Bandit, also was convicted of six counts each of armed robbery and use of a firearm in a crime of violence. Roman was convicted of five counts each of armed robbery and the weapons offense. He also was convicted of one count of robbery.

Authorities said Rondon, who gained his nickname from the bandage he wore to cover a mole during many of the robberies, was responsible for heists at 39 banks from Sarasota to Gainesville from 2000 through 2006, taking nearly $1 million. The pair were prosecuted for just six robberies.

Earlier this month, Merryday granted prosecution motions seeking the defendants’ property, finding the pair liable for $505,530 in proceeds from the six robberies.

Among other things, Merryday ordered Rondon to forfeit his house, 2001 Lincoln Navigator, 1999 Chevy Blazer and a 1997 Dodge pickup, in addition to his gun and cash investigators seized when he was arrested.

Roman, who rented his home, was ordered to forfeit a Chrysler 300C, currency, his gun and the contents of two bank accounts.

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