Boston Man Sentenced For Unarmed Bank Robbery

BOSTON – A Boston man was sentenced today for robbing Bank of America.

Francis X. Morgan, 51, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to 12.5 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and payment of $3,334 in restitution. In October 2012, Morgan pleaded guilty to unarmed bank robbery.

On Jan. 9, 2012, Morgan walked into the Bank of America branch on Tremont Street in Boston, handed the teller a note claiming to have a bomb, and demanded money. Terrified, the teller handed him more than $5,500 in cash. Morgan, who did not wear a mask, was on supervised release for a previous bank robbery conviction and his probation officer later recognized him from photographs that were captured by the bank’s surveillance system. Morgan was eventually apprehended in Kansas after local police officers escorted him off a train bound for California. After he was arrested, Morgan made incriminating statements about the robbery and police seized from him more than $2,000 of the stolen cash.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric P. Christofferson of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.