Byline: LISA PULITZER and ANDY GELLER A Long Island commodities trader who kissed his wife goodbye and went off to rob banks began serving a sentence of nine years behind bars yesterday.
Stephen Trantel, 38, could have gone home for another six weeks, but he elected to be sent to the big house immediately.
In March, Trantel agreed to a plea deal in which he received a reduced sentence of nine years in the slammer.
Yesterday was to have been the sentencing day.
But when Trantel showed up in Nassau County Criminal Court, Judge Alan Honorof told him that sentencing would be delayed until June 22 because the probation report hadn’t been completed.
The man who led a double life elected to start serving his sentence anyway.
Trantel, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, told Honorof he had said his goodbyes to his wife, Jeanne, and two sons, aged 3 and 7, and wanted to “go to jail today.”
Sporting a new goatee, Trantel chewed gum nervously and appeared to have lost a lot of weight since his last appearance.
He apologized for what he was wearing, saying he expected to go to jail right after the proceeding.
Trantel’s dad is a retired NYPD cop and his father-in-law is a well-known former Brooklyn federal prosecutor, William Callaghan.
His father broke down in tears as court officers clamped the cuffs on Trantel and led him away.
His wife sat quietly in the rear of the courtroom, comforted by friends.
Trantel, a gold trader, was charged with carrying out five bank heists from Aug. 8 to Nov. 21.
It turned out that he had been living a double life, driven to crime because of financial and personal problems.
All the while, he continued to play his role as a pillar in his Rockville Centre community, coaching his son’s Little League games and volunteering.
In March, he pleaded guilty to three bank jobs in exchange for a lighter sentence.
He could have faced up to five consecutive terms of five to 25 years for each of the five counts.
As part of the deal, Trantel agreed to make restitution to the five banks he was charged with robbing.
He is also making restitution for five others he is suspected of – but not charged with – robbing.
Each time Trantel pulled off a heist, he handed the teller a note saying he had a loaded gun. No weapon was ever recovered.
Police nabbed Trantel after a detective lifted a fingerprint off one of the notes and it matched Trantel’s print from a 1984 DWI arrest.