Bank Robber Nabbed In Foxboro Police Chase Gets 7-Year Sentence

FOXBOROUGH, MA — A Weymouth man was sentenced to seven years in prison after he admitted to robbing five banks and leading police on a high-speed chase from Foxborough to Attleboro.

Charles Wheeler, 50, of Weymouth, was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to five counts of bank robbery. Wheeler will also have to serve three years of probation following his prison sentence.

Wheeler and his accomplice, Dong Lee, 50, of Providence, robbed banks in Andover, Boston, Braintree, Avon and Brockton over a one-week span in September 2018. Lee pleaded guilty on Oct. 13 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 16.

Prosecutors said both Lee and Wheeler were arrested Sept. 14, 2018 after leading Massachusetts State Police on a high speed chase from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough to Interstate 95 in North Attleboro. Officers were able to catch the suspects after Wheeler crashed near the Toner Boulevard exit.

Wheeler ran away and stole a car left running at a pump at the Tri-Boro Gulf gas station. He was stopped by police on Route 1 In Attleboro near the Pawtucket border.

The sentence handed to Wheeler was the one that prosecutors recommended. In the sentencing memorandum, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Shine wrote that Wheeler's actions cannot be treated lightly, and he has a lengthy criminal record dating back to when he was a teenager.

Wheeler's attorney Mark Shea recommended a lighter sentence of five-and-a-half years with two years of probation, according to court documents. Shea cited Wheeler's troubled childhood and struggles with drug and alcohol addition. In the sentencing memorandum, Shea wrote Wheeler's drug habit was the driving force behind the bank robberies.