MassBank robbed in weekend heist
Published on August 3rd, 2005
Creating vehicular gridlock on Route 28 during last Friday's afternoon commute, an unidentified suspect made away with an undisclosed amount of cash after robbing Main Street's MassBank and abandoning a fake bomb on the local bank's counter.
Cordoning off the entire block surrounding the local MassBank branch, which sits across the road from Stoneham Middle School, the State Police Bomb Squad unit reportedly detonated the device after local police discovered the fake bomb shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday.
"When I responded, I found out about the bomb and I called the State Police Bomb Squad and the FBI. It turned out to be a bunch of wires wrapped up with black electric tape to make it look like a real home-made device," recalled Stoneham Police Det. Robert McKinnon.
"It was a nightmare for that time of day, and there were a lot of safety concerns. It couldn't have been a worse time. You're talking about a lot of traffic from work traveling around that building. It was absolute gridlock for a couple of hours," the police detective added.
According to Stoneham police officials, a white male believed to be between 38 and 40 years-old entered the Main Street bank wearing a Red Sox baseball hat, a pair of sunglasses, and a mustache now believed to be part of a disguise.
Dressed in a fleece jacket and jeans, the robber reportedly approached a bank teller and demanded that she hand over her cash. After that teller emptied out her cash drawer, the suspect then walked to another bank window and demanded more cash.
"[The first teller] gave him her whole drawer. And then he went to another teller, took out what appeared to be a home-made bomb and put it on the counter. He then demanded more money and left," McKinnon said.
Abandoning the bomb on the counter, the robber then slowly walked out of the bank, even holding the exit door open for a bank patron entering the business as he left, say police officials.
According to witnesses at the scene, the suspect then turned toward the side of the building, and fled down Central Street as he stripped off his disguise. No witnesses were able to identify a get-away vehicle, and police reportedly recovered no items from the bank robber's strip-act.
"It was a pretty good disguise," said McKinnon. "Normally we just have people coming in and passing notes. So this bomb stuff is uncommon. We did have a similar incident on Montvale Avenue at the Tremont Credit Union last year, but I don't think it's related."
Police are requesting that witnesses or citizens with information about this robbery contact the Stoneham Police Department at 781-438-1215.
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