Prison cell. Source: Shutterstock.

Eric Mohan, 48, of Manchester, N.H., a former kindergarten teacher who robbed four credit unions and a bank over three months to support his drug addiction, will spend more than four years of his life behind bars.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty in Concord sentenced the serial bank robber last week to 57 months in prison.

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Mohan's three-month robbery spree began on Feb. 11, when he robbed a Manchester, N.H., branch of the $876 million Triangle Credit Union. He handed a demand note to a teller and stole $2,070.

On March 7, Mohan robbed the Salem Five Bank branch in Tewksbury, Mass., handing the teller a note claiming someone was watching the building and walked out with a bag of cash containing $8,000.

Twelve days later on March 19, Mohan was speaking about loans for about 15 minutes with the manager at the Danvers, Mass., branch of the $697 million Align Credit Union when he handed the manager a note requesting "all the money," according to Mohan's plea agreement. He walked out of the branch with $7,613.

On March 29, he handed a note to a teller at the Lee, N.H., branch of the $2 billion Northeast Credit Union that said he was robbing the credit union, was armed and had no problem harming the teller, court documents showed. He left the branch with $6,000.

The next day, on March 30, he walked into the same branch of Salem Five Bank in Tewksbury that he robbed on March 7, handed the teller a black plastic bag and said, "You know the drill." He claimed to have a firearm and walked away with $2,000.

But Mohan's luck ran out on April 4, when FBI agents were tailing his car, which had been identified as a vehicle of interest caught on security cameras from prior robberies he committed.

FBI agents saw Mohan put gloves on before he entered the Hampton, N.H., branch of the $5.1 billion Service Federal Credit Union. He handed a demand note to two tellers and walked out with more than $10,000.

Following his arrest, Mohan admitted to the string of robberies.

In his sentencing memo to Judge McCafferty, Mohan described his addiction to drugs that began when he was a teenager and how he also developed a gambling addition to support his substance abuse issues.

At times, throughout his life, he managed to maintain sobriety that enabled him to hold steady jobs as a kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts. He also worked as an executive director of a learning center that assisted individuals with disabilities in developing their maximum potential and independence.

At age 46, however, he relapsed on Percocet, and within a matter of months he was on heroin. He was consuming about five grams of heroin a day up to his April 4 arrest following the Service robbery, according to court documents.

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Peter Strozniak

Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.