A 47-year-old New Bedford man with a lengthy history of unarmed robberies was sentenced this week to serve eight-to-10 years in state prison after being convicted of two separate 2016 New Bedford robberies, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Scott Almeida pleaded guilty this week in Fall River Superior Court to a two-count indictment charging him with two counts of unarmed robbery.

On September 3, 2016, there was a robbery at a New Bedford 7-Eleven store. The clerk reported to police that the suspect entered the store, picked up a bottle of soda, and approached the register. The suspect said, “Give me everything from the register.” The clerk gave the suspect about $120 from the cash drawer, and the suspect fled on foot.

Then, on October 1, 2016 there is another robbery of the 7-Eleven with almost the same set of facts. The cashier was able to identify this suspect as the same individual who robbed the store in September.

New Bedford Police arrested the suspect on October 3, 2016 after a failed robbery attempt at the Jalice Cafe. During that attempted robbery, the defendant told the bartender that he had a gun and demanded all their money. The owner ran outside for help, and called out to her husband and his friends who saw the defendant running out of the cafe. The friends of the owner chased the defendant for about a block before he ran into a telephone pole and hit the ground.

At the time of all three incidents, the defendant was on probation for an unarmed robbery out of Fall River District Court. He received a six year state prison sentence in 2010 and was to be on probation until November of 2017. He was also convicted in 2005 for an unarmed robbery. He received a four to five year state prison sentence on that occasion.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Melissa Hendrie.

"The defendant has a history of committing robberies. He was on probation when he committed these recent robberies of people just trying to make a living," District Attorney Quinn said. "The ten year sentence is necessary and appropriate to protect the public from the defendant."

--Bristol County District Attorney's Office

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