By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A Burlington man with a long history of bank robberies throughout Vermont and the rest of New England, has been arrested as a fugitive from justice for a 10-year-old holdup, the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Stephen J. Silva, 55, formerly of Springfield, Mass. was taken into custody by the Street Crimes Division of the sheriff’s office on Monday afternoon in Burlington.

Chittenden deputy sheriffs found Silva on the front porch of the old Wilson Hotel on lower Church Street, which is operated as transitional housing by the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS).

Silva has been working for a food service company in Chittenden County.

After his December 2016 arrest for a bank robbery in Vermont, Silva had been implicated, according to authorities, in at least 18 bank robberies on the east coast in the previous months.

Detective Paul McManus said the Chittenden County Street Crimes Division had learned recently about an outstanding arrest warrant from a 2016 bank robbery in Woonsocket, R.I. and that Silva was in the Burlington area.

After an intensive investigation, Silva was traced to the Church Street location, Chittenden County Sheriff Dan Gamelin said.

Silva offered no resistance when the Street Crimes Unit moved in about 2 p.m. for the arrest.

Silva acknowledged that he was aware of the arrest warrant, court papers show.

Vermont Superior Court Judge Colin Owyang imposed $20,000 cash bail and Silva was taken to the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans pending arraignment on Tuesday, Detective Lt. Michael Longevin said.

Vermont State Police on Dec. 10, 2016 said Silva robbed the Mascoma Savings Bank of $1,140 on Vermont 12 in Hartland. A lone man walked into the bank near U.S. 5 and demanded cash from the teller, Bernice Clark, police said. No weapon was displayed and the man fled on foot, police said.

Two days later, acting on a tip, state police searched Silva’s hotel room at the Super 8 in White River Junction and his vehicle, officials said. Evidence, including the clothing worn during the robbery was recovered, police said.

A record check showed he was a convicted felon, including an earlier conviction for armed robbery in Massachusetts and a robbery/larceny charge in Connecticut, court records show.

The black Toyota Solara that Silva was driving had been stolen out of Massachusetts and the Connecticut license plate that was on it at the time of the search also had been stolen, police said.

He was charged in state court and eventually the case was taken over by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont.

Silva eventually pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, while two bank robbery charges were dropped in the plea deal, court records show. One of the dropped charges involved an October 2016 robbery at the TD Bank in Brattleboro, records show. The robber stole $990 from the teller.

Then-Chief Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford imposed a 57-month sentence and recommended Silva serve it at the federal prison in Danbury, Conn. followed by three years of supervised release.

Crawford later ordered Silva to complete 10 hours of community service after he was found to have smoked marijuana at least four times on supervised release between January 2021 and September 2023, federal court records show.