# Police catch second robber in two days



## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

Police catch second robber in two days









By Jessica Benson 
_Staff Writer _

NEWBURYPORT - A man pretending to have a gun in his sweatshirt pocket robbed a Newburyport convenience store yesterday, just one day after another man was charged with robbing an Amesbury store with a hypodermic needle.

Newburyport's robber, like the one in Amesbury on Monday, was caught, police say. Robert J. Kennedy Jr., 22, of 46 Main St., North Reading, was charged with armed robbery just minutes after police say he made off with $332 from the White Hen Pantry store on Storey Avenue.

Sgt. Mark Murray estimated the time between the 911 call and the arrest at around 15 minutes, crediting a handful of fast-acting officers for the quick resolution to the case.

"It all worked out," he said. "All the officers did a good job."

Around 5 p.m., a man wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt walked into the store, spending about 15 minutes looking at magazines, said Adinara Riveiro, one of two clerks working at the time. Riveiro believed the man, whom she recognized as a regular customer, was waiting for other customers to leave the store.

Once he was alone with the two clerks, the man approached the register with a bottle of vitamin water, and paid for the drink like a regular customer.

That's when he put his hand inside his pocket and pointed his finger at Riveiro, acting as if the finger was a gun. At first, Riveiro, realizing he was faking it, refused to give him any cash.

"I saw he didn't have anything," she said. "I wasn't going to give him the money."

But her co-worker, Thielly Conejo, became scared, and screamed at her to "give him the money." Police did later find that Kennedy was carrying a knife, though he did not show it to the clerks at the store, Murray said.

While Riveiro tried to reason with the robber - pointing out that he was being videotaped - the man kept saying, "Don't make me hurt you." Finally, she relented, opened her register, took out a handful of bills and threw them across the counter.

By the time the robber gathered the money and fled, a customer had walked into the store. The customer had left a few minutes before, scratched his lottery ticket in his car while the robbery was going on, and then returned to cash in a winning ticket, Riveiro said. When he realized what had happened, the customer ran back outside, followed the robber around the corner and watched as he got into a red Dodge Stratus.

The customer also managed to get the car's license plate.

Officer Michael Sugrue, one of the first to arrive after Riveiro and Conejo called 911, talked to the witness, passing the plate number on to the dispatcher back at the station, Officer Richard Rocco. Within minutes, Rocco was giving the information out to other police departments.

Because of the bulletins, Newbury Police Lt. Michael Reilly found the car driving southbound on Route 1 and pulled it over near Elm Street, just before the Rowley line. Rowley police, also out looking for the car, arrived shortly afterward and assisted Reilly with the arrest.

Police say the car belonged to Kennedy's girlfriend. He was alone in the car when Reilly pulled him over.

Just the day before, a 49-year-old woman and her 20-year-old son were arrested in Amesbury and charged with robbing a store on Route 110 in that town. The pair were ordered held on $10,000 cash bail each at their arraignments yesterday.

Kennedy was being held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail overnight, pending his own arraignment in Newburyport District Court this morning.

Officers Michael Wilichoski and Christopher McDonald assisted with yesterday's investigation.


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## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

Mom and son's arrest a sign of growing heroin problem 







 Miles Neofotistos, left, and his mother, Mary A. Neofotistos, are arraigned in Newburyport District Court on roberry charges yesterday morning.

By David Colbert 
_Staff Writer _

NEWBURYPORT - Monday's arrest of an Amesbury mother and son on armed robbery charges is another sign that heroin is driving an increase in crime throughout the county, said the district attorney.

Yesterday morning, a day after allegedly teaming up to rob the Irving gas station and convenience store in Amesbury, Miles Neofotistos, 20, and his mother, Mary A. Neofotistos, 49, were led into Newburyport District Court in handcuffs, arraigned and ordered held on $10,000 cash bail.

The 59 Pleasant Valley Road residents are accused of threatening a store clerk with a used needle and syringe in order to get money to buy heroin.

The robbery may be an instance of what Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett described as "a precipitous rise in crime by what we call opiate-addicted individuals," those hooked on either heroin or OxyContin.

Blodgett said yesterday he does not have hard figures, but that the use of opiates skyrocketed in Essex County during 2005 due to an increased availability of the drugs. He said crimes by drug addicts, such as purse snatchings in malls, home break-ins and armed robberies, have risen correspondingly.

He said addiction "respects no boundaries," that people of various ages and income levels are becoming hooked, in both urban centers and small towns.

Mary A. Neofotistos, who has no prior criminal record, told police she picked up her heroin addiction from her son about eight months ago. Prior to her arrest, she was working as a caretaker for two handicapped adults.

Blodgett said perpetrators of drug-related crimes often quickly confess to police and admit they are addicts. He said the district attorney's office favors treatment for those not accused of violent crimes.

"I just think we need more treatment on demand," he said.

Amesbury saw a spike in heroin and related crime about two years ago, said police Lt. Gary Ingham.

"I wouldn't say there's an epidemic problem in Amesbury, but I wouldn't say there is not a heroin problem, either," Ingham said. He said the drug most often arrives via Lawrence. Most of the town's property crimes can be linked to addiction, Ingham said.

He also said adequate police presence and aggressive work by the department - including traffic enforcement - have proven successful deterrents for larcenies, house breaks and armed robberies, though the town is not immune.

"The bad guys, if you will, don't come to Amesbury unless they have to, because they know they're going to be caught," Ingham said.

According to police records on file at Newburyport District Court, the mother and son confessed to the robbery when interviewed a few hours later. They said they had seen a television news story about someone robbing a story in Salem using a needle and decided to copy that method.

Both are charged with armed robbery; the son is also charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. Not guilty pleas were entered on the pair's behalf .

At about noon Monday, feeling "dope sick" and "desperate," they carried out their plan, the Neofotistoses told police. The mother waited outside in a car while the son entered the store with a syringe and threatened the clerk, who handed over approximately $150.

Miles Neofotistos "came back to the car and stated he can't believe he did that," according to a detective's report based on the confessions.

The pair said they then went to Lawrence and bought two bags of heroin and one of cocaine, took the drugs and returned home. Police were waiting for them, having identified them through their car registration and witness reports. The robbery was caught on a gas station surveillance camera.

Geoffrey DuBosque, the court-appointed lawyer for the mother's arraignment, argued that she should be free while awaiting trial in order to undergo treatment for her drug addiction outside the confines of MCI-Framingham, the state's correctional facility for women.

He also said she may have been intoxicated while speaking with police.

"She tells me when (her son) went into the store, she had no idea he was going to do anything," DuBosque said.

But Judge Peter Doyle said he would not send the suspects to a "non-secure" setting. He ordered both mother and son held on $10,000 cash bail, half the amount the prosecution sought.


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## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

Accused robber held without bail; Oxycontin addiction blamed for crime









By Jessica Benson 
_Staff Writer _

NEWBURYPORT Robert J. Kennedy Jr. burst into tears when he learned he was being charged with armed robbery.

From the back seat of Officer Michael Sugrue's cruiser, Kennedy cried and begged to be released, according to Sugrue's report on the robbery.

"He offered me money to let him go and forget about the whole thing," Sugrue wrote. "I told him that he was under arrest and that is not an option."

Instead of being released, Kennedy was ordered held without bail yesterday at his arraignment in Newburyport District Court for the robbery of the White Hen Pantry store on Storey Avenue on Tuesday afternoon. Police allege the admitted Oxycontin addict pretended to have a gun to steal $281 from the store so he could buy more drugs.

The money was later recovered - and a knife was found in his pocket - when Kennedy was arrested a short time later. A White Hen customer had gotten the license plate number of the getaway car, and with that information, Newbury police were able to find the vehicle heading south on Route 1. Kennedy was in the driver's seat.

Under questioning, Kennedy admitted he had robbed the store, according to court documents.

Kennedy told police he had been driving north on I-95, heading to New Hampshire to buy cigarettes, when he got off the highway at the Newburyport exit and stopped at White Hen to buy a candy bar. After buying the candy, he sat outside the store and smoked a cigarette, he told investigators.

That's when the lack of Oxycontin started to have an effect on him, Kennedy wrote in a statement given to police.

"I was feeling extremely sick from O.C. withdrawal, and I didn't know what to do," he wrote.

Kennedy admitted he went back into the store, spending several minutes reading magazines while he waited for other customers to leave. The two clerks working at the time described how Kennedy approached them with his hand in the pocket of his sweatshirt, acting as if it was a gun.

Though one clerk initially tried to resist, Kennedy did get away with cash. However, a customer followed him to his car, getting the license plate number as Kennedy drove away. Police broadcast the number and car description within minutes, leading to Kennedy's arrest in the neighboring town.

Though interviewed by Rowley police investigating a robbery of a Richdale's store in that town last week, Kennedy claimed he had never committed such a crime before. He said the closest he had come was stealing money from his father for Oxycontin, but that stopped when his father caught him and sent him to rehabilitation.

Kennedy was ordered by Judge Peter Doyle to stay in jail pending a hearing to determine if he should continue to remain behind bars as a danger to himself or others. The hearing is scheduled for March 21.


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