'Spelling Bee Bandit' Gets Time To Work On His Spelling - In Jail

ARLINGTON, MA — A Massachusetts man authorities dubbed the "spelling bee bandit" because the notes he passed to tellers during multiple bank robberies in the Boston area contained the same spelling error, was sentenced Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Jason S. Englen of Chelsea was sentenced to seven years of prison and three years of supervised release, time enough to work on his spelling. (Pop quiz: robbery or robery?). He pleaded guilty in November 2017 to four counts of bank robbery.

Englen went into an Arlington bank on Oct. 31, 2016, approached a teller and handed over a note written on a deposit slip telling them a robbery was in progress, except robbery was spelled with just one "B." The teller handed Englen money from the drawer, and Englen ran off, leaving the note behind.

During the next few weeks, three more banks were robbed in the same fashion with the same misspelling: a branch of TD Bank in Reading, a branch of Salem Five in Burlington, and a branch of TD Bank in Peabody. Based on the similarity of the robberies and the physical description of the robber, law enforcement, seeking help from the public, identified Englen, who was already in state custody on unrelated charges, as the bank robber. On Dec. 12, 2016, Englen was arrested by federal authorities and charged.

Photo courtesy FBI

Previously on Patch: G-U-I-L-T-Y Spelling Bee Bandidt Cops To Robbing Area Banks