Judge Hands Down Three-Year Sentence for Bank Robber Who Locked Self Out of Getaway Car

A Somerville man who left the key to his getaway car inside a Brookline bank he had just robbed last year was sentenced to three years in prison today.

Bruno Santolim, a 25-year-old man from Somerville, pled guilty to armed robbery and armed assault to rob in Norfolk Superior Court today, nearly a year after he brought a gun into the Sovereign Bank on Harvard Street and demanded money from a teller. He escaped police despite locking himself out of his getaway car and was later caught by federal agents on a bus in Louisiana.

According to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, Santolim walked into the bank around 3:30 on April 8, showed a large black handgun to a teller and passed a noted that read, “I have a gun. I want the money.” When another teller observed the transaction and rang a silent alarm, Santolim aimed the gun at them but did not fire.

Santolim fled the bank with money from the teller and ran toward a black Infiniti G35, which police later found running with the keys in the ignition, according to District Attorney Michael Morrissey. Police also found the car’s remote key fob on the tellers counter in the bank.

Morrisey said that after detectives identified Santolim and began checking addresses were he was known to live, the robber brazenly called detectives to taunt them, saying he had “[expletive] up in your city today and did some mad [expletive.]” Santolim told detectives they would never found him.

He was arrested six days later in Louisiana.