Haverhill Man Sentenced for Bank Robbery

BOSTON – A Haverhill man was sentenced to probation today in federal court in Boston for robbing a branch of Santander Bank in Boston. At the time of his arrest, the defendant was on probation for a prior bank robbery conviction in federal court. The Government sought a sentence of more than 12 ½ years in prison.

Gregory Carter, 61, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel to five years of probation and ordered to pay $6,129 in restitution. The Government had recommended a sentence of 151 months in prison. In August 2017, Carter pleaded guilty to one count of unarmed bank robbery. Carter was arrested and charged in May 2017. Since 1974, Carter has been sentenced to prison 10 times.

On March 25, 2017, an individual, later determined to be Carter, dressed in a black hat, ski mask, sunglasses, and wearing blue latex gloves entered a branch of the Santander Bank on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Once inside the bank, Carter passed a note to a teller indicating that he had a gun and demanded the bank’s money. The teller handed Carter $6,127, and Carter fled the bank.

Law enforcement collected the bank’s various surveillance camera footage and determined that Carter was the individual involved in the robbery. Carter, who, at the time of the robbery was on federal supervised release stemming from a 2003 bank robbery conviction, for which he received a 151 month federal prison sentence, has multiple prior criminal convictions and has been sentenced to prison 10 times since 1974.   

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Somerville Police Chief David Fallon; Haverhill Police Chief Alan DeNaro; and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth G. Shine of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.