Fall River bank robber sentenced to decades in prison

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) — Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said that a Fall River man with a criminal record dating back to the 1970s will serve decades in prison after a 2018 bank robbery.

Thomas Halpen pled guilty to charges of unarmed robbery and assault and battery of a police officer with intent to disarm.

The 61-year-old was accused attempting to rob Fall River Municipal Credit Union on Sept. 21, 2018.

He was given $6,000 by the teller, which included a GPS tracking device that allowed police to track him to his apartment Weetamoe Street within a half hour, where he was detained and identified.

On Sept. 23, while being held in jail, Halpen lunged at a police officer and unsuccessfully attempted to unholster the officer’s firearm.

Quinn said that Halpen had been incarcerated multiple times over the past four decades for crimes including armed robbery, forgery, breaking and entering, and assault.

He was sentenced to serve 12 to 50 years in state prison.