Bank official, robber testify at trial

A robber and a bank official Monday gave their accounts of a harrowing holdup caught on video by a surveillance camera.

Terrell Maden, a self-confessed member of a crew that robbed jewelry stores, banks and a post office, testified in federal court in Central Islip how he went into a Chase branch in Oakdale Gardens, Queens, in February 2009 armed with a gun and a mock bomb.

He threatened to explode the bomb unless he got a bag stuffed with cash.

James Won, then working as a personal banker at the branch on Horace Harding Expressway, testified Maden went over to his desk, pulled out a handgun and motioned toward a bomb-like device in a bag.

"He's an [explosive] expert just back from Iraq," Won testified, relating Maden's warning.

Maden fled the scene with $25,000 in cash, and the "bomb" was actually several flares and a clock taped together, according to federal prosecutors Lara Treinis Gatz and Thomas Sullivan.

The Chase robbery was one of the six on Long Island and Queens that the prosecutors say was masterminded by Sharod Williams, 39, and his first cousin, Travis Walker, 25. They are also accused of robbing the Wyandanch post office and a Far Rockaway jewelry store.

Maden, one of several accused members of the crew who have testified for the government in return for lenient sentences, said the cousins planned and directed the bank robbery.

But Williams' attorney, Randi Chavis, and Walker's attorney, Glen Obedin, have argued that their clients are being framed by the actual robbers.

Under their cross-examination, Maden said he faces up to life in prison unless he gets leniency, and that he had previously committed other crimes while out on probation or parole, and had lied to officials about his actions.