A Fall River man who has gone on the record with his belief that the movie “The Town” was based on him has pleaded guilty to even more bank robberies — four separate banks in five days, with a try for a fifth.
William Sequeira, 60, by his own admission has spent nearly 40 years of his life in prison, according to an appearance he made on the show “Caught in Providence” with Providence, R.I., municipal Judge Frank Caprio in November 2020. He said he’d probably robbed 150 banks or so in his life.
With his pleas in federal court in Boston on Wednesday, he’s looking at another possible 20 years for each robbery. He pleaded guilty to robbing four banks in Massachusetts between Sept. 26 and Sept. 30 of last year, during which he also tried to rob another one.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys signed a plea agreement Thursday that agrees to sentence of 54 months, or four and a half years, in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, but the court doesn’t have to abide by the agreement.
U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for Sept. 12. Sequeira was charged by federal complaint in November 2022 and was indicted by a federal grand jury the next month.
“Give me all the money before I blow your brains out,” Sequeira allegedly told a teller after demanding all the $100 bills in the drawer during the final robbery of the bunch at TD Bank on Union Street in Back Bay on Sept. 30.
Sequeira made off on foot from there with $854 in proceeds in his pocket — but the cameras were rolling.
The FBI noted that “the Robber was a white male with a heavy build, in his 50s, with dark colored eyebrows and dark eyes,” the affidavit filed with the complaint states, “wearing a blue medical facemask, black beanie, a dark colored hoodie with a dark colored jacket, black pants, and black sneakers with white soles.”
In addition to the TD Bank location, Sequeira also pleaded guilty to robbing a Citizens Bank branch in Fall River on Sept. 26, Santander Bank branch in Boston on Sept. 27 — during which the feds say he used a similar line to the lottery robbery, “Give me a $100 bill or I’ll put a bullet in your head,” though he never produced a gun — and an M&T Bank branch in Boston on Sept. 28.
He took four days off after the Back Bay heist, but officers on the lookout saw him back in the area on Oct. 5 just as he entered a Citizens Bank branch. Once again, he demanded “Give me hundreds,” the feds say, and threatened to shoot the teller.
He was immediately arrested.
