Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck announced Tuesday that investigators have suspects in custody in connection with all six of the bank robberies that have occurred in the city since May.
Police on Saturday arrested 42-year-old Thomas Monat and charged him with the most recent bank robbery on Friday at University Credit Union on Forest Avenue.
Sauschuck said Monat was the third person charged who is a suspect in one or more of the robberies.
“Suspects are in custody for all six of these robberies. Not all have been charged with robbery at this point. They are being held on other charges. But we fully expect to indict on all six of these crimes,” Sauschuck said during a news conference outside the Portland police station. “We want to let the general public know where these investigations stand, and we also want to let bad guys, future suspects, know what can happen to them if they come to the city of Portland and commit violent crimes like bank robberies.”
Sauschuck said bank robbery under state statute is a Class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. He added that bank robbers prosecuted in federal courts often get sentenced to up to 20 years.
“We have all heard the expression that crime does not pay, and we want to reinforce that sentiment. Disguises and advanced planning have not protected the criminals that committed these crimes. And they will not prevent the apprehension of others who might seek to profit through bank robbery in the future,” Sauschuck said
Sauschuck said that six bank robberies over such a short time period is unusual for Portland. The city does not track armed robberies or bank robberies separately from robberies in general, but Sauschuck said there have already been 73 total robberies in Portland this year compared with 51 for all of 2014, a 43 percent increase.
“Portland continues to be a safe city with a low crime rate,” Sauschuck said. “The success we have had is due to partnerships with the media, community members and law enforcement partners. These are strong ties that will continue to ensure that crime in Portland does not pay.”
Sauschuck declined to identify the suspects other than Monat, and said they may be responsible for other robberies outside Portland. In each case, he said, the suspects were motivated to commit the crimes because of drug addiction.
Monat appeared in the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland on Monday to face a robbery charge. He appeared clean-shaven, with tattoos below one eye, on his neck and visible on his arms below the sleeves of his orange jail uniform. In security camera footage from University Credit Union taken the day before his arrest, he appeared to have a dark goatee, sunglasses covering the location of the tattoo below his eye and a hooded sweatshirt covering his neck tattoos.
Justice Joyce Wheeler set Monat’s bail at $100,000 cash. He remained in custody at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland on Tuesday afternoon.
The Forest Avenue branch of University Credit Union was also robbed on Sept. 4. A New Hampshire man, 46-year-old Joseph Richards, is a suspect in that robbery. He is in federal custody on a bank robbery charge for a separate robbery at TD Bank in Lewiston on Sept. 12.
The third suspect, 25-year-old Jimmy Odong of Portland, is a suspect in the other four robberies, at the Brighton Avenue branch of University Credit Union on May 14, at TruChoice Federal Credit Union on Park Avenue on May 26, at cPort Credit Union on Forest Avenue on June 19 and at the Bank of America branch at One City Center on June 19. Odong is currently charged with a carjacking in Portland on July 17 and a bank robbery in Freeport on the same day.
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