Chicago Man Sentenced to Over Six Years in Prison for Two Bank Robberies

BOSTON – A Chicago man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston in connection with bank robberies in Massachusetts and Illinois.

Eugene Davis, 54, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release. On April 28, 2021, Davis pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery.

In July 2019, Davis was indicted for a Massachusetts bank robbery and in March 2021 he was charged in the Northern District of Illinois with an unrelated bank robbery. The Illinois case was transferred to Massachusetts for plea and sentencing purposes.

On June 3, 2019, Davis robbed a branch of the East Boston Savings Bank in South Boston. Davis walked into the bank, pulled out a suitcase and handed a handwritten demand note to the teller. The note said that there was a bomb in the bag, that everyone was going to die and to put all the money into Davis’s hand. The teller took $6,055 cash out of the teller drawer and gave it to Davis who placed it in his shirt and walked out of the bank. Davis was apprehended later that day and ultimately confessed to committing the bank robbery.

On May 22, 2019, Davis robbed a branch of Chase Bank in Chicago. Davis entered the bank, pulled out a suitcase and handed the teller a demand note stating that he had a bomb, demanded money and threatened that if dye packs were included, they would all die. The teller provided approximately $3,460 in cash to Davis who then left the bank with the money.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Chicago Field Division; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Acting Commissioner Gregory Long made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Mendell’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.