Suspect denies bank robberies

Police believe that the convicted bank robber who turned himself in to authorities over the weekend is actually the “woman” they had been looking for in connection with the recent armed holdups of a bank in Brattleboro and a pharmacy in Bellows Falls.

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Suspect denies bank robberies By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT | December 29,2015 Email Article Print Article PHOTO BY ERIC FRANCIS Convicted bank robber Matthew Martin, 31, of Perkinsville was ordered held without bail Monday after he turned himself in over the weekend. Brattleboro Police said Martin confessed to dressing up as a woman and robbing a bank on Main Street on December 14th and Martin is also the suspect in an armed robbery of a pharmacy in Brattleboro, a bank in Ludlow, and two banks in New Hampshire all earlier this month. WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Police believe that the convicted bank robber who turned himself in to authorities over the weekend is actually the “woman” they had been looking for in connection with the recent armed holdups of a bank in Brattleboro and a pharmacy in Bellows Falls. Matthew Martin, 31, of Weathersfield, was brought into the courthouse in White River Junction on Monday, where he pleaded innocent to three felony counts of assault and robbery, larceny from a person and possession of a hoax explosive device in connection with the Dec. 14 robbery of People’s United Bank on Main Street in Brattleboro. Brattleboro Police Detective Lt. Michael Carrier wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that investigators interviewed Martin late Sunday at the Springfield prison after he had called and told police where to come and pick him up. The detective said Martin confessed to constructing a fake bomb using a cellphone, clay and some wires and then dressing up in a wig and stuffing a padded bra underneath his hoodie before he walked up to a teller at the bank in Brattleboro and in a “low raspy” feminine voice demanded “Don’t hit your alarm or that will go off.” Carrier said that Martin, who displayed a black handgun that was actually a BB gun, made off with nearly $3,800 in cash before running outside to a red Cadillac where a driver was waiting for him. Police said the apparent disguise used in the bank robbery bears a striking resemblance to the “woman” who robbed the Greater Falls Pharmacy in Bellows Falls on Nov. 11 and that investigation is ongoing. Martin, who is now facing the potential of a life sentence as a “habitual offender,” was ordered held without bail by Judge Kathleen Manley at the conclusion of Monday’s hearing. Prior to his arrest this weekend, Martin was already the prime suspect in the holdup of two banks in New Hampshire at the beginning of this month and of the Heritage Family Credit Union in Ludlow last week. The U.S. Marshals Service had joined the hunt for Martin in recent weeks after he was let go by authorities in Rhode Island where he had been sent to resolve an outstanding probation violation before what was supposed to have been his voluntary return to Vermont on Dec. 1 to be sentenced for the robberies of the two Springfield banks and a Ludlow gas station in January and February. Instead, officials said they believe Martin went to New Hampshire and held up a bank in Charlestown on the very day he was supposed to be sentenced and then on Dec. 4 robbed another bank in the town of Louden. Throughout his affidavit, Carrier said it was clear that Martin was receiving help from one or more men during at least one of the bank robberies.The police investigation is continuing into Martin’s recent alleged activities, including what informants told detectives was “a significant heroin debt” that Martin reportedly owed to a Massachusetts drug dealer who had allegedly threatened to kill him.