W. Warwick Career Criminal Sentenced for Fall River Bank Robbery

FALL RIVER (WBSM) — A West Warwick, Rhode Island career criminal has been sentenced to a decade in prison for robbing a Fall River bank last year.

According to Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn, John Barboza, 58, pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to an indictment charging him with armed and masked robbery.

The robbery took place on December 3, 2022, when Barboza entered the Rockland Trust Bank in Fall River while wearing a surgical mask. He approached the teller with a note that read, “robbery, gun, 100s and 50s, fast or you die fast.”

After the teller handed over the cash, Barboza ran out of the bank and behind a nearby Cumberland Farms, where he got on a bicycle and took off towards the woods.

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A police K9 helped track Barboza through the woods and he was found a short time later with just under $500 in cash, police said.

Police, with the use of K9, tracked him through the woods and found him a short time later with just under $500 in cash.

The D.A.’s Office said Barboza has a “lengthy history of serious convictions and has served multiple state prison sentences for armed robberies and assaultive behavior.”

“The defendant is a career criminal who has been convicted of similar offenses going back 30 years,” D.A. Quinn said. “He clearly presents an ongoing danger to the community and needed to be locked up.”