Man who used water gun in bank robberies gets up to 10 years

A man convicted of robbing two Massachusetts banks with a water gun painted to look real has been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that 34-year-old Edgardo Rivera was also sentenced Thursday to five years of probation after being convicted of multiple counts of armed and masked robbery.

Prosecutors say the Springfield man robbed a bank in South Hadley on March 28, 2016, and a bank in Ware just a few days later. About $10,000 in total was stolen.

An employee at one of the banks said she thought she was going to die.

Rivera's lawyer asked for a shorter sentence, saying his client used a water gun to make sure no one got hurt.