BOSTON - A New Bedford man was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston for robbing the St. Anne’s Credit Union in New Bedford in September 2013.
David Frates, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 11 years in prison, five years of supervised release and restitution of $1,098. In May 2015, Frates pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery.
On the morning of Sept. 24, 2013, a man wearing a translucent mask and hooded sweatshirt entered the St. Anne’s Credit Union in New Bedford. Once inside the bank, the man brandished what appeared to be a black semi-automatic firearm, threatened the tellers, and ordered the tellers to give him cash. The man took $1,098 in cash and fled the bank.
A few days later, the New Bedford Police Department received an anonymous tip suggesting that David Frates was involved in the robbery. During an investigation, the clothing Frates was wearing and the weapon he carried were recovered. The weapon was determined to be a BB gun. Frates was arrested and charged in January 2014.
U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Harold H, Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and New Bedford Police Chief Joseph C. Correiro, made the announcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth G. Shine of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
