Instead of spending his retirement with his family, a 70-year-old Millcreek Township man is on his way to a federal prison for what will likely be about five years.

A gambling problem contributed to his legal woes.

Donald D. Cesare, who robbed a Millcreek bank while beset by gambling losses, pleaded guilty to the felonies of armed bank robbery and bank robbery.

The maximum sentence is 25 years. But Cesare's lack of a prior record and other factors put his sentencing guidelines in the range of four years and nine months to five years and 11 months, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the defense said.

The defense has mentioned Cesare's gambling problems at prior court proceedings, and can provide more details at his sentencing, scheduled for May 2 in federal court in Erie.

U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin will decide whether the gambling problems or any other issues warrant sentencing Cesare above or below the guidelines.

"It is apparent that the gambling was the primary motivation for him committing this offense," Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold said after Cesare pleaded guilty before McLaughlin on Wednesday.

Cesare's lawyer, Thomas Patton, an assistant federal public defender, declined comment.

He said previously in court that Cesare was dealing with gambling-related financial problems when he robbed $6,172 from the First National Bank at 2765 W. Eighth St., west of the Colony Plaza, shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.

Millcreek police and the FBI said Cesare admitted using a handgun he had owned since the 1960s to threaten a teller to give him the money, which he stuffed in a plastic grocery bag.

Cesare fled in his Ford Taurus, and police and the FBI used a description of the car to locate him. The police and FBI found a duffel bag filled with stolen cash and a .25-caliber Beretta handgun in a search of Cesare's house in the 3900 block of Amherst Road.

Cesare believed the gun was broken and would not fire when he used it during the robbery, Patton said in court Wednesday.

Cesare, dressed in khaki pants and a light blue Oxford shirt, answered McLaughlin firmly, with yes and no responses, as the judge asked him whether he understood the terms of his guilty plea, which did not include a plea bargain. Cesare declined comment as he left the courtroom with his wife and another woman.

Cesare, who has a child in college, is a retired car salesman who also served as a Eucharistic minister at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Millcreek. He will await sentencing at a rehabilitation center that a Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor James Peterson, operates.

Cesare after his arrest was released on an unsecured bond of $5,000, so he could become enrolled at the Diocesan Lodge, in Spartansburg, Crawford County. The lodge is part of the Maria House Projects, Peterson's program for troubled men.

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