Chelsea Man Pleads Guilty and Sentenced for Bank Robbery

BOSTON – A Chelsea man pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Friday, June 19, 2020, for the September 2019 robbery of a branch of TD Bank in Chelsea.

Edward Robert Rezendes, 66, pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery. After accepting Rezendes’s guilty plea, U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sentenced Rezendes to time served (approximately 10 months in prison) and three years of supervised release. Rezendes, who was on probation for an unrelated bank robbery at the time the offense, had been indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2019.

On Sept. 10, 2019, Rezendes entered the TD Bank branch in Chelsea and wrote a demand note on the back of a deposit slip. He then presented the note to a bank teller, who removed approximately $3,670 in cash from her drawer, placed the money in a clear plastic bag, and handed the currency to Rezendes, who exited the bank and boarded an MBTA bus. Rezendes was located and apprehended shortly thereafter, and found in possession of the plastic bag containing the stolen currency, a GPS tracking device which had been embedded in the stolen currency, and the demand note, which had also been handed back to the defendant.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes made the announcement made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam W. Deitch of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.