NORTHAMPTON — The bank teller recalled from the stand Wednesday how, two years ago this month, the man in black raised his voice from the other side of the counter, telling her to move faster, to hand over all of the money.
It was the first day of testimony in the trial for a Chicopee man, Taylor A. Dziczek, who is charged with robbing Easthampton Savings Bank, 605 Granby Road, South Hadley, and stealing about $5,700 in cash. He has pleaded not guilty to unarmed robbery in Hampshire Superior Court.
Erika Gomez, who was one of the tellers working the afternoon of March 11, 2015, told the jury Wednesday that she was chatting with colleagues when she first saw the man in black, his face concealed, dart by the drive-through window. Then he came into the bank, faced Gomez and demanded all the money in her drawer.
“I got out of my chair — shaking, terrified,” she said in court, choking back tears. “I didn’t know what to expect … I tried to grab as much money as I could.”
Dziczek was caught by police shortly after he fled the bank in a gray 2011 Hyundai Elantra sedan, authorities said. This was the first robbery reported at any of the bank’s branches since 1949, said Easthampton Savings Bank President and CEO Matthew S. Sosik in 2015.
During cross-examination, Dziczek’s defense counsel, Joseph A. Franco, asked the former teller if the accused bank robber ever explicitly announced he was robbing the bank. Gomez said he did not.
“He didn’t say ‘this is a robbery’; he said ‘give me all the money?’” Franco inquired.
Gomez agreed.
The jury also heard from Kathryn Sordillo, who oversees the bank’s day-to-day operations.
During her testimony, Sordillo recalled sitting at her desk that day when the man in the black sweatshirt and gray sweat pants approached the counter.
“All the tellers got really quiet, and that gave me pause,” she said. “So I looked up from my desk … I knew that we were being robbed.”
The trial will resume Thursday morning, when Sordillo is expected to be cross-examined.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.