Stoneham Savings Bank robbed, suspect at large
Published on June 21st, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham Savings Bank was robbed Monday, for the second time this year. This is the third bank robbery on Main Street Stoneham in the past year.
The robber escaped with $4,500 in cash from the 359 Main St. branch.
A teller described the suspect as a white male, over six feet tall, wearing a "Gilligan" hat, sunglasses, a tee shirt, sneakers and Bermuda shorts.
At approximately 1 p.m. on Monday, June 19, the robber entered the bank from the Hersam Street side entrance, handed a teller a note demanding money, took the money, exited to Hersam Street, and disappeared. He made no mention of a weapon.
After the suspect left, the teller told her manager that the bank had just been robbed, and the manager sounded the alarm for police at 1:11 p.m.
The Stoneham Police Station is only several hundred yards from the bank, and the front door of the bank is visible from the front door of the station, so police were there in seconds.
Police searched the area but found no signs of the robber. And no one saw a getaway car.
"This guy has done this before," said Stoneham Police Detective George Alger.
Alger said the location of Main Street banks - between Routes 128 and 93 - makes them susceptible to robbers looking for multiple escape routes.
Stoneham Savings Bank Vice President Bill Parker said the bank is doing everything it can to prevent robberies.
"We have the top of the line alarm," Parker said.
The last time Stoneham Savings Bank was robbed, the two suspects fled with $7,600 but left a conspicuous trail and were arrested within the month.
Images of Monday's robber on bank surveillance cameras look like a suspect in photographs on file with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Bank Robbery Task Force, Alger said.
The FBI is working with Stoneham police on this investigation.
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