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Trial of Pennsylvania man charged in armed robberies delayed
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A judge has agreed to delay the trial of a Pennsylvania man accused of plotting multiple armed bank robberies, including the botched robbery of a Connecticut credit union during which he strapped a bank executive with a fake bomb.

The Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2eNTWag ) reports 44-year-old Michael Benanti of Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania, was to stand trial Monday in a Knoxville federal court on a 23-count indictment, but Benanti's attorneys filed a bid for a last-minute delay after they lost a string of rulings in the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Lewen resisted the delay, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley agreed to bump the trial to Jan. 30.

Benanti is accused of plotting a series of violent crimes in six states and carrying out those plots in four of them.