Police arrested a man on Thursday night and charged him with robbery and other crimes for allegedly stealing $30,000 from a South Portland bank on Jan. 26.
Officers found Jason P. Arsenault, who is 41 and homeless, inside his parked car on Mabel Street in Portland at about 10 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the South Portland police department. In addition to robbery, a Class A charge (the highest level in Maine), Arsenault faces charges of theft, unauthorized use of property and terrorizing – a crime some Maine prosecutors have stopped charging due to uncertainty about the constitutionality of the statute.
Police say the KeyBank at 445 Gorham Road was robbed shortly before noon on Jan. 26. They said a man driving a black Chevrolet Suburban showed tellers a note, demanding cash and threatened that he had an explosive device. Police later found the car in a parking lot about a mile away on John Roberts Road. Investigators believed it was stolen.
Four days later, police released photos of the man they believed committed the crime. Police say they received several tips from the public – and one of those led to Arsenault.
Arsenault led investigators to where he had stashed “nearly all” of the money he allegedly took from the bank, police said.
He is being held at the Cumberland County Jail on $25,000 bail and was scheduled to make his initial appearance in court Friday.
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