Hampton, Lee bank robber sentenced to nearly five years in prison

Staff report
·3 min read

CONCORD — A Manchester man will be spending nearly five years in federal prison for robbing six banks in the span of three months in 2022, including ones in Hampton and Lee.

Eric Mohan, 48, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Concord to 57 months in prison as part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors.

Mohan was arrested by Hampton police and the FBI on April 4, after he robbed the Service Credit Union on Lafayette Road (Route 1) in Hampton. The Boston FBI Violent Crimes Task Force notified Hampton police Mohan was in the area and both entities were ready when he came out of the bank. The FBI had Mohan under surveillance after tracking and identifying his vehicle via cameras from the prior robberies.

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The suspect in an armed robbery at Northeast Credit Union in Lee is seen in this surveillance image from the bank, according to police.
The suspect in an armed robbery at Northeast Credit Union in Lee is seen in this surveillance image from the bank, according to police.

The spree to feed his "daily 5 grams of heroin" habit, according to court documents, began Feb. 11, when Mohan walked into the Triangle Credit Union in Manchester and handed the teller a note. The teller only read "this is a robbery" before Mohan grabbed the note back and said "quickly!," according to court documents.

Mohan next hit the Salem Five Bank in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, on March 7 and the Align Credit Union in Danvers, Massachusetts, on March 18.

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On March 29, he entered the Northeast Credit Union in Lee, New Hampshire, and handed a teller a note stating this was a holdup, and that he was armed and had no problem harming the teller. The robbery prompted a manhunt in Lee.

The next day, he robbed the Salem Five Bank in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, handing the teller a note and saying, "you know the drill."

The spree came to an end five days later when he robbed the Service Federal Credit Union at 887 Lafayette Road.

While being arrested, Mohan dropped a bag containing $10,659 in currency and a demand note.

Eric Mohan handed this note to a Service Federal Credit Union teller in Hampton on April 4.
Eric Mohan handed this note to a Service Federal Credit Union teller in Hampton on April 4.

“Eric Mohan is a serial bank robber who terrorized innocent bank tellers and bystanders just trying to go about their daily lives, and his actions will no doubt have a lifelong impact on those involved,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Today’s sentence should send a clear message that if you rob a bank in this state, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will find you, arrest you, and ensure you go to federal prison for a long time.”

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Public defender Jeffrey Levin, representing Mohan, stated in court documents his client has struggled with substance abuse and addiction since he was a teenager and in adulthood "a prescription opioid habit morphed into a heroin habit."

"These robberies were motivated, as so many are, by a desperate drug addiction," Levin stated in a motion asking the judge for a four-year sentence for Mohan instead of the 5 to 7 years he faced. "Eric has been struggling with addiction for many years and this spree was, unfortunately, the result."

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, with assistance from the Tewksbury Police Department and the Danvers Police Department.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton, Lee bank robber sentenced to nearly five years in prison