In a case with a Fall River connection, a now former bank employee has pled guilty to stealing $125,000+ from the account of a 78-year-old customer with dementia

PROVIDENCE – A former employee of Santander Bank has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to stealing more than $125,000 from the bank account of a 78-year-old customer with dementia.

Carlos Bras, 41, of East Providence, pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Bras is scheduled to be sentenced on September 15, 2026. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for mail fraud, and a mandatory consecutive term of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. The sentence imposed will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

According to charging documents, Bras is alleged to have enabled online banking access to the victim’s account, ordered checks sent to an address in Fall River and his own residence, and ordered a debit card for his personal use. It is also alleged that he conducted numerous unauthorized transactions to his wife’s account, and several large wire transfers to a Portuguese bank account in her name.

The charging documents also allege the following: Santander Bank investigators confronted Bras, who initially denied knowing the victim but later claimed he had assisted him with in-branch transactions. Bank security footage showed that the individuals in Bras’ office at the time of the transfers were not the victim. Bras also did not disclose that his wife was the recipient of the wire transfers until confronted.

The victim resided in an assisted living facility and had a court-appointed conservator in Massachusetts.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney G. Michael Seaman.

The matter was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Seekonk, Massachusetts Police Department.