BOSTON — A man linked to a string of five bank robberies across Middlesex and Worcester counties in March 2022 has been sentenced in federal court, ending a case built on a trail of surveillance images, a telltale limp and a borrowed 2006 Honda Accord.
Reinaldo Ortiz, 47, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was recently sentenced to 57 months in prison after he robbed banks in Lowell, Fitchburg, Chelmsford, Wilmington, and Lexington, making off with more than $21,000 before investigators closed in, according to U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office.
Affidavits filed in federal court state the spree began on March 9, 2022, when a masked suspect walked into the Enterprise Bank on John Fitch Highway in Fitchburg and demanded cash. The teller initially thought the encounter was a joke before handing over $4,300. Surveillance footage showed the suspect leaving in a 2006 Honda Accord with no visible license plate.
The Fitchburg Police Department learned that roughly 20 minutes earlier a man matching the same description had entered the Workers Credit Union on Main Street but left empty‑handed. This time, cameras captured the Accord’s license plate, which investigators traced to a Manchester woman who knew Ortiz.
Two days later, on March 11, a masked suspect stole $3,115 from the Santander Bank on Rogers Street in Lowell. Surveillance again showed the same Accord leaving the scene.
On March 17, the Eastern Bank on Chelmsford Street in Chelmsford was robbed of $6,390, with cameras once more capturing the suspect entering the Accord.
Investigators also noted the suspect walked with a limp — a detail that matched Ortiz, who had been struck by a car in Hooksett, New Hampshire, in 2019. The Chelmsford Police later found the Accord parked near the bank and recovered a pair of medical gloves resembling those worn by the robber. Fingerprints on the gloves matched Ortiz’s prints on file.
The fourth robbery occurred on March 22 at the Align Credit Union in Wilmington, where the suspect made off with $2,860. Surveillance footage again showed the Accord and captured a woman inside the vehicle, later identified as Ortiz’s girlfriend.
The final robbery took place on March 24 at the TD Bank on Lowell Street in Lexington, where the suspect stole $5,044 before fleeing in the same car.
Ortiz and his girlfriend were arrested in Manchester on April 5 on unrelated warrants. During questioning, she told investigators the pair had been homeless and living in a rented van or hotels, and that Ortiz borrowed the Accord from a friend, paying cash to use it.
Investigators later obtained Ortiz’s cellphone data, which placed him near each bank at the time of the robberies.
Ortiz ultimately pleaded guilty to three counts of unarmed bank robbery — the Chelmsford, Wilmington and Lexington robberies — as part of a plea agreement. Prosecutors said they would dismiss the remaining counts tied to the Fitchburg and Lowell robberies after sentencing.
Ortiz’s defense attorney, Jessica Thrall, argued in her sentencing memorandum the robberies were acts of desperation committed during a period of addiction, homelessness and deteriorating health.
“The crimes that Mr. Ortiz committed in March of 2022 were entirely driven by his drug addiction, homelessness, and need to survive,” Thrall said in the memorandum, while recommending a 50-month sentence for her client.
Thrall described Ortiz living in cars and rented vans during the winter, often unable to stay warm without running the engine, and said he was “strung out on drugs” and “barely remembers that time,” calling it “being in a fog.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Aidan Lang argued in his sentencing memorandum, however, that Ortiz’s conduct showed planning and persistence.
“This case involves far more than a single, momentary lapse of judgment,” Lang said, noting that Ortiz robbed multiple banks over a fifteen‑day period and that the crimes “required planning, coordination, and foresight.”
Lang also pointed to Ortiz’s lengthy criminal history, including a prior federal conviction for bank robbery in 2006.
“Prior convictions and substantial sentences have failed to deter him from reoffending,” Lang said, urging the judge to impose a 63‑month sentence — the top of the plea‑agreement range.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani ultimately settled between the two recommendations, sentencing Ortiz to 57 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and six months of home confinement. He was also ordered to pay $21,709 in restitution and $14,294 in forfeiture.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
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