A man facing federal charges of aiding and abetting two pharmacy robberies in September has already served a sentence in state prison for robbing an Augusta pharmacy in June 2010.
Lance M. Szady, 26, of Augusta is charged in connection with the Sept. 2 robberies of two Augusta Rite Aid pharmacies that occurred within 20 minutes of each other.
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Investigators said he drove the robber to and from the pharmacies.
Szady and Dominic J. Pomerleau, 21, of Augusta, who is charged with committing the robberies, are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Tuesday.
Nichole A. Breton, 20, of Chelsea has been charged with being an accessory after the fact in connection with the robberies for allegedly being in the car while the robberies took place and using the stolen oxycodone.
She was arraigned on the charge Tuesday in federal court and is being held without bail.
All three are in state custody on other charges.
RECOMMENDING NO BAIL
The federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney F. Todd Lowell, wants Szady held without bail by federal authorities if he is released from state custody.
“The defendant has a significant criminal history and there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a serious crime of violence that will expose him to a lengthy potential jail sentence,” Lowell wrote in a motion.
Lowell said Szady was on probation for his previous pharmacy robbery and multiple storage unit burglaries when the pharmacies were robbed in September, and has been held on a probation violation charge since Sept. 3.
In January 2011, Szady pleaded guilty in Kennebec County Superior Court to 53 charges, including a 2010 CVS pharmacy robbery and a dozen break-ins at self-storage units, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but 3½ years suspended and three years of probation – a sentence recommended by both the state and the defense attorney.
Szady’s attorney at the time, Lisa Whittier, told the court he had a severe substance abuse problem and was hoping to get into treatment while in prison.
According to state records, Szady was released from the Maine State Prison on July 19, 2013, and began his probation.
Documents filed in state court in connection with Szady’s earlier robbery case indicate he spent most of the time from when he was 15 to 18 at Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston and was occasionally hospitalized in the psychiatric unit at Acadia Hospital in Bangor.
NO RESPONSES FILED
“There is no condition or combination of conditions that will reasonably assure the defendant’s appearance as required and the safety of the community,” Lowell argued in the federal case.
Szady is being represented in federal court by attorney Joseph M. Bethony.
No responses to the claims have been filed yet by any of the defendants’ attorneys.
The same language appears in Lowell’s motion to have Pomerleau kept behind bars.
Pomerleau, too, was on probation when the pharmacy robberies occurred, Lowell said.
Pomerleau was convicted in January 2012 of eluding an officer and sentenced to four years incarceration with all but nine months suspended and two years of probation.
Other documents filed in state court say Pomerleau had that probation revoked several times and had been released after serving six months in jail only four days before the pharmacy robberies.
Pomerleau has been held in state custody since his arrest on a probation violation charge on Sept. 5.
He is represented on the federal charges by attorney James S. Nixon.
‘FOAMING AT THE MOUTH’
Documents filed in the federal case indicate that Szady and Breton dropped off Pomerleau at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta the morning after the robberies.
Material filed in Breton’s case said she told investigators the trio spent the evening of the robberies using the stolen pills and cocaine.
“At one point in the night, she and Szady returned to the house to find Pomerleau passed out and foaming at the mouth,” said an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Cameron Mizell, who sought the warrant for Breton’s arrest.
Another document said Pomerleau lay halfway in a closet and was not breathing.
Lowell also is seeking to have Breton detained, saying she was out on bail on state charges when the robberies occurred.
“She has a significant history of drug abuse,” Lowell wrote. Breton was on bail on charges of robbing a man of $260 after he was hit over the head with a bottle of Bud Lite in Augusta.
Attorney Ronald Bourget was appointed to represent Breton on the federal charge.
Szady allegedly told investigators he drove Pomerleau to the two Rite Aid locations.
Both he and Breton told investigators she, Szady and Pomerleau had been swimming at her aunt’s in Augusta and left in Szady’s car, stopping first at McDonald’s on Bangor Street, where she got paper and a pen. Pomerleau then wrote on it, she said.
The first robbery occurred at 5:30 p.m. at the Rite Aid on North Belfast Avenue, when a man – allegedly Pomerleau – handed the pharmacist a note that read: “I have a gun. Don’t push the button or I’ll shoot,” according to Mizell’s affidavit.
The robber demanded oxycodone and Ritalin.
The affidavit did not say whether Pomerleau actually had a gun.
“Hurry,” the note said. “Make it a minute or less. Act normal.”
Mizell wrote that the phone rang as the pharmacist was getting the pills, at which point the robber ran out of the store before getting the pills.
“Witnesses provided a description of the man,” Mizell wrote. “That description included information about distinctive tattoos on the man’s arms and neck.”
Pomerleau has a variety of tattoos, including a large star on his neck, that are clearly visible in a variety of posts on his Facebook page.
About 20 minutes after the first robbery, a man in a different color T-shirt robbed the Rite Aid on Hospital Street.
The man again approached the pharmacy counter with a note that threatened a gun and demanded oxycodone, Mizell wrote.
The robber was given pills and fled the store. Witnesses’ descriptions of the
robber, including the distinctive tattoos, matched those provided after the first robbery, Mizell wrote.
Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631or at:
badams@centralmaine.com
Twitter: betadams
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