The man collaborating with a police officer on a new cop show has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for bank robbery.
Felix Soto, 43, of Manchester, was sentenced on Thursday to 144 months of in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for robbing Webster Bank, at 40 Webster Square Road in Berlin, on July 25, 2008.
Soto, a career criminal who has been in federal prison, has been working with Hartford police officer Mark Manson on the crime show “The Second District,” which is set in Hartford.
Manson wrote the script and Soto helped with the story line.
Manson told the Hartford Courant that he doesn't normally make friends with the people he arrests, but this was a special case in which he and Soto bonded over a disgust for unrealistic cop shows.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Felix Soto and his brother, Luis Soto, were dressed in dark clothes and stocking masks and had handguns when they entered Webster Bank, ordered patrons and employees to the ground, and stole about $40,000.
Officials said Felix Soto made threats and pointed handguns at patrons, while Luis Soto leaped over the teller counter and forced a teller to empty cash into his duffle bag.
The brothers fled through a wooded path next to the bank into a waiting getaway car parked on the side of Route 9.
Local
Investigators said Felix and Luis Soto recruited two other people who made “hoax” 911 calls reporting home invasion in another part of Berlin to
divert police.
Felix pleaded guilty on April 14 to one count of bank robbery.
On May 6, 2011, a jury found Luis Soto guilty of the same charge.
On August 25, 2011, Luis Soto also pleaded guilty to robbing a Citizens Bank branch in Higganum of $8,850 on August 18, 2008, and robbing a New Alliance Bank branch in Windsor of $50,786 on September 19, 2009. The investigation has revealed that Felix Soto also participated in these two robberies.
On December 22, 2011, Luis Soto was sentenced to 180 months of imprisonment.
