PITTSBURGH — Patrick Acierno posted to Facebook in August 2018 that he needed “to knock off a bank or something.”

Two weeks later, he followed through at the PNC Bank in Cranberry Township. Then, he robbed three more banks across seven months.

He'll now spend nearly five years in a federal penitentiary.

At a sentencing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose handed down Acierno's punishment of 57 months in prison, which are to be followed by three years of supervised release, for robbing four banks across three counties between September 2018 and March 2019.

The robberies started when Acierno stole $2,474 from the PNC Bank on Route 19 near North Boundary Road on Sept. 12, 2018. He pleaded guilty in June to entering the Cranberry Township bank wearing a black hoodie, white hat, gloves and sunglasses with either a bandanna or T-shirt covering his face. He placed the nearly $2,500 in a blue duffel bag before leaving the scene.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca L. Silinski wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Acierno started the spree, which ended with a March 5 police chase in Ingomar, Allegheny County, because he needed to fund his addictions. She wrote that he drank vodka nearly every day and habitually used marijuana, cocaine and crack.

“Nearly every month, like clockwork, he committed these offenses in an apparent attempt to fund his addictions,” the memorandum states. “It was apparent ... that during the time frame in which the offenses were committed, Mr. Acierno had no job, little money and what little money he had or obtained was apparently used to fund his alcohol, drug and gambling addictions.”

In addition to the Cranberry PNC, Acierno pleaded guilty to robbing a CoGo's convenience store in Monaca, Beaver County, on Oct. 11, 2018; a West View Savings Bank in Wexford, Allegheny County, on Nov. 12, 2018; a WesBanco Bank in Monaca on Dec. 5., 2018; and a KeyBank in Ingomar on March 5. It was after the fifth robbery in seven months that he was apprehended by police.

Acierno stole more than $26,000 from the four banks and an additional $630 from CoGo's. He'll have to pay that back in restitution.

The PNC robbed by Acierno was later struck again by Michael Ryan Neppach, also of Beaver County, who pleaded guilty to robbing that bank earlier in December. He will likely face identical sentencing guidelines, of 57 to 71 months in prison.