iStock illustration

A Chicago man who robbed banks in Boston and Chicago while claiming each time to have a bomb was sentenced last week to more than six years in prison.

Eugene Davis, 54, was sentenced in Boston federal court to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release for the robberies. Davis had pleaded guilty in April to two counts of bank robbery, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

According to the statement, Davis in May 2019 entered a branch of Chase Bank in Chicago. He then pulled out a suitcase and handed the teller a note stating that he had a bomb, demanded money and threatened that if dye packs were included, they would all die, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The teller provided approximately $3,460 in cash to Davis, who left the bank with the money.

A few weeks later on June 3, Davis used a similar tactic to rob an East Boston Savings Bank branch in South Boston. After walking into the bank, Davis pulled out a suitcase and gave the teller a handwritten note that said there was a bomb in the bag, that everyone was going to die and to put all the money into Davis’s hand, according to the statement. The teller took $6,055 cash out of the 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, according to the statement. The Illinois case was later transferred to Massachusetts for plea and sentencing purposes.