Dartmouth Man Sentenced in Bristol County Crime Spree
FALL RIVER — A Dartmouth man will spend up to eight years in prison for a crime spree that spanned Bristol County in 2016.
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office says Shane O'Donnell, 34, of Dartmouth, was sentenced in Fall River Superior Court for larceny and robbery charges filed in 2016. A judge sentenced O'Donnell to six to eight years in state prison on November 30.
On February 29, 2016, O'Donnell visited Total Fitness in Seekonk. Once inside the men's locker room, O'Donnell cut locks off of several lockers, stealing phones, credit cards, and keys. O'Donnell used one of the sets of keys to steal a vehicle from the parking lot of the gym.
Several days later, on March 2, O'Donnell entered the Santander Bank in Fairhaven and approached the teller. While wearing gloves, O'Donnell handed a note to the teller that claimed he had a gun. The teller gave O'Donnell $1,000 before he fled in the vehicle he had stolen from the gym parking lot in Seekonk several days prior.
The vehicle was found abandoned in Fairhaven.
Through a joint investigation between Fairhaven and Seekonk Police, investigators were able to find a fingerprint on a package of gloves that O'Donnell had purchased prior to the robbery on March 2. The fingerprint came back as a match to O'Donnell.
Police showed surveillance video of the bank robbery to the manager of the Seekonk gym, who told police the suspect appeared to be the same man who entered Total Fitness on February 29 and signed in as "Shane Donnell."
On March 12, O'Donnell also visited Gold's Gym in New Bedford carrying a large gym bag. Once again, O'Donnell snapped off the locks from several lockers and stole valuable contents. He was once again identified by police through video surveillance and subsequently located and arrested.
Assistant District Attorney William Flynn recommended a 10 to 13 year prison sentence, while the defendant recommended a 5-year prison sentence. Judge Mark Hallal imposed a state prison sentence of six to eight years for the charges of larceny over $250, breaking into depositories, armed robbery, and receiving a stolen vehicle.
O'Donnell had recently been convicted in Norfolk Superior Court for similar charges and had been sentenced to 3 1/2 to 5 years in state prison.