Vermont man sentenced to more than six years in prison for Charlestown bank robbery

Aug. 12—A federal judge has sentenced a former Bellows Falls man to more than six years in prison after he robbed a Charlestown bank in 2018 while claiming he was armed.

Trevor Allen, 30, pleaded guilty last November in U.S. District Court of New Hampshire in Concord to a charge of bank robbery, according to court documents. Judge Paul Barbadoro sentenced him on Wednesday to 77 months in federal prison on that charge.

According to his plea deal with federal prosecutors, Allen entered Claremont Savings Bank on Main Street in Charlestown on June 28, 2018, and handed a bank teller a note demanding that the teller empty the money in his drawer.

Surveillance cameras captured images of the robbery, which were broadcast on local news outlets, prompting multiple people to identify Allen from the photographs, according to a news release Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney's Office has previously stated that investigators identified Allen's fingerprint on the demand note.

After the robbery, the teller told investigators that Allen had said he had a gun and had warned the bank employee not to alert police, saying things to the effect of, "Let's make this quick," according to the plea agreement. The teller gave Allen $2,485 in cash from his bank drawer, the news release states. As part of his sentence, Allen has been ordered to pay that amount in restitution, according to court documents.

Allen was indicted in May 2019 on a charge of armed bank robbery, court filings show. Prosecutors agreed in the plea deal to drop that charge and press only the less-severe bank-robbery charge, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

"Today's sentence holds Trevor Allen accountable for targeting this financial institution and instilling fear in innocent employees and bystanders," said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, in the news release. "It also is a warning to others that if you commit bank robbery or any other violent crime in New Hampshire you will face serious consequences for your unlawful actions."

A lawyer representing Allen could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at

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