June 4, 2022
Boston – Man is accused of sticking up a Cambridge bank roughly four months after getting out of state prison.
“Give up all Hundreds! AN 50’s Robbery!” is the note Jamall Copeland allegedly handed a teller at the TD Bank at 1270 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. The feds were allegedly able to pull Copeland at the latent fingerprint off the note when he fled the scene with $1,450 in currency, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Copeland, 49, of Boston, had gotten out of a state pen in December but was federally indicted on Thursday on one count of bank robbery from the April 27 incident. He was first charged on May 5 and arrested on May 23, according to court records. U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy ordered Copeland held pending trial.
Copeland has an extensive criminal history including charges related to murder, kidnapping, drug and firearms offenses, armed robbery, and assault with intent to murder, according to court records.
The feds say Copeland walked into the bank at around 1:45 p.m. and asked a teller, in heavily accented English, if he could set up an account there. The teller asked if he spoke any other languages and he said “Spanish,” so a Spanish-speaking teller came up to assist him.
This teller told the feds that the Spanish he spoke was heavily broken and that Copeland was unlikely to be a native Spanish speaker.
The FBI agent who wrote the affidavit stated that bank robbers often try to disguise themselves — even their voices — and that there is no record that the suspect spoke anything other than English.
Copeland then allegedly told the first teller, dropping the sham accent, “This is what I want you to do” and handed over the demand note. The teller allegedly passed over $500 in the large bills and another $80 with a GPS tracker embedded, according to the court doc. The second, Spanish-speaking teller allegedly handed over $500 and then called 911 when the suspect walked out.
The GPS tracker and remnants of a $20 bill were found immediately outside the bank, according to the court doc.
