Bank robber who has spent most of his adult life in prison and who claimed Affleck played him in The Town gets another 4 1/2 years for string of bank robberies

A federal judge yesterday sentenced William Sequeira, who has already spent 37 years in prison, to 4 1/2 years more in federal prison - and then three years of probation - for holding up three banks in Boston and one in Fall River in a five-day spree last fall that netted him $1,910.

Sequeira, 60, and a Fall River native now living in Providence, was arrested after Boston detectives and FBI agents, who were on the lookout for him, spotted him just as was demanding money from a teller at a fifth bank, on Boylston Street in the Back Bay.

Sequeira, whose record dates to 1982 and includes convictions for everything from bank and armed robbery to disorderly conduct, pleaded guilty to his latest offenses in June, admitting to the government's case that at all four banks, he walked up to a teller, demanded hundred-dollar bills and threatened to blow the teller's brains out if he or she didn't hurry, often adding, "Do you think I'm joking?" According to a government sentencing memorandum, in one case, he disdained any stacks of bills that didn't have hundreds, in one case, leaving a stack of bills with no hundreds behind. In one case, he got away with just $88.

In Boston, Sequeira robbed the Santander Bank branch at 209 Berkeley St. in the Back Bay on Sept. 27, the M&T Bank branch at at 425 Boylston St., and the TD Bank branch at 1 Union St. downtown, the government says.

On Oct. 5, a task force of FBI agents and Boston and Fall River detectives got word that Sequeira was headed back into Boston on Oct. 5 - and based on the location of the earlier robberies, began looking for him in the Back Bay and near Faneuil Hall:

During their surveillance, Sequeira was spotted in the vicinity of the Citizens Bank, located at 426 Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Sequeira was observed entering the bank and overheard by a BPD Detective already on scene (in the bank) and just a few feet away from Sequeira, as Sequeira demanded the teller give him hundreds or he would put a bullet in the teller's head if they did not move fast enough.

The detective and FBI agents immediately took him down.

Prosecutors did not seek the longest possible sentence for Sequeira, in part because of what seemed like "an undiagnosed mental health issue," in part because, despite his long spells behind bars, he seems to be trying to actually break his crime cycle:

[T]he Government will note that the pace and level of the Defendant's re-offense has lessened. Indeed, it appears Sequeira often takes two steps forward and one step backwards; a behavior not inconsistent with slow and steady change.

The Government sincerely believes that Sequeira has tried to control this destructive behavior and despite time and time again failing, he has shown, especially most recently a capacity to change. Sequeira has attempted to transition to steady employment and a "regular life", which is evidenced by his work at the Nasiff Fruit Company. In this case as in his past, when Sequeira hits a proverbial bump in the road, he returns to a life he knows, a life of crime. As a result, the jointly proposed sentence in this case, still reflects a significant one for the Defendant. He faces incarceration again until his mid-sixties, and thereafter a period of supervision which will assist him in revising his problematic behavioral patterns and achieve success more akin to his recent conduct following his release in 2018. The Government feels that this period of imprisonment, while not insignificant, is necessary to keep him out of trouble, the public safe, and under appropriate supervision. Sequeira should finally get the help he needs while in custody to get on track and lead a productive life upon release.

Sequeira's lawyer asked that the judge urge the federal Bureau of Prisons to assign Sequeira to the prison medical facility at Devens so he can receive care for his ailments, which include knee and back problems. He added that a 4 1/2-year sentence would be enough to punish Sequeira - along with the shame he has suffered for backsliding into crime after a Providence judge had highlighted him on two of his YouTube shows and he had his work hours cut due to the pandemic:

More than most, Mr. Sequeira now faces the indignity associated with the publicity surrounding a conviction and sentence in his tarnishing a feel-good story that garnered so much interest. Where he was lauded for exhibiting serious progress after a near-lifetime of incarceration, he now is viral headline fodder as the infamous bank robber back in court once more. Indeed, nearly every report of this case references and often links to video of his appearance before Judge Caprio.

Despite these simple drive-by headlines, Mr. Sequeira did have some sustained period of success after his release in 2018, suggesting he can return to a positive path again. Both mentally and from a systemic perspective – Mr. Sequeira will return back home following this incarceration more prepared to be successful, adjusted to the realities of a world that moved on, and most certainly without the backdrop of a generational pandemic.