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Caio Costa faces up to 32 years in prison after he admitted in federal court to robbing the Salem Five Bank at 2171 Main Street on Sept. 25, 2020, the Department of Justice said.
FBI agents said Costa walked into the bank wearing a dark motorcycle helmet, pulled a gun, and demanded cash. He stole $7,000 and bolted out the door to his waiting motorcycle, but police were in quick pursuit, agents said.
Costa weaved in and out of traffic as he pushed his bike to 100 miles an hour into Lawrence, where he crashed and escaped on foot, police said. But he wasn't free for long. Officers arrested him the next day as he left a hotel in Salem, N.H., the Eagle Tribune reported then.
Costa confessed to robbing the Salem Five Bank and four more in Middlesex County, the newspaper said. The others were in Chelmsford, Lowell, and Wilmington.
Costa showed officers where he'd thrown away a loaded black revolver, a pair of black gloves, a black backpack, and other items in a dumpster after the robberies, federal authorities explained.
“Caio Costa terrorized innocent bank tellers and bystanders just trying to go about their daily lives. In committing this armed robbery and leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase afterward, this serial bank robber has repeatedly demonstrated why he is a significant threat to public safety,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “FBI Boston’s Violent Crimes Task Force is committed to taking violent criminals like him off the street, to keep them from victimizing anyone else.”
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