Skowhegan robbery suspect made off with $140, affidavit says

SKOWHEGAN — The suspect in two Skowhegan robberies Sunday night, who told police he robbed a Waterville bank in 2014, is believed to have stolen $140 in cash, police wrote in affidavits supporting his arrest. Prosecutors filed a complaint Wednesday in Skowhegan District Court charging David Alvarez, 40, listed as transient, with two Class B counts of robbery, one Class D count of assault, one Class E count of theft by unauthorized taking, and three Class E counts of violation of condition of release. The robbery charges are lesser than the Class A offenses Skowhegan police initially charged Alvarez with when they arrested him Monday. Police had also listed an additional assault charge, one count of criminal mischief and 11 more counts of violation of condition of release, noting they believed that Alvarez was subject seven sets of bail conditions. Alvarez, being held without bail at the Somerset County Jail in Madison, was scheduled to make an initial in-custody court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Skowhegan. At that time, a judge would be expected to determine whether there was probable cause for the arrest, consider bail, appoint a defense attorney and set the matter for future proceedings. Jail booking records available online showed Alvarez was still being held later Wednesday with bail set at $2,500. As the robbery charges are felony-level, prosecutors must first obtain an indictment from a grand jury before Alvarez would be asked to enter any pleas. In an affidavit, Skowhegan police Officer Shane Lay wrote that at around 7 p.m. Sunday, he responded to George’s Banana Stand, a grocery store on North Avenue, for a reported theft. A cashier told Lay a man grabbed her hand while she was counting money at the register, took the cash out of her hand and ran out of the store, the affidavit says. About two later, a manager at the McDonald’s fast food restaurant on Madison Avenue reported to police that a man threatened her with a firearm and took money out of the register, Lay wrote. Police obtained a photo from surveillance tape at the McDonald’s and identified Alvarez with the assistance of a neighbor who lived near the McDonald’s and staff at Skowhegan’s homeless shelter, Shelters By Jesus on McClellan Street, where Alvarez was staying. Police located Alvarez at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan and arrested him once he was medically cleared, the affidavit says. The George’s Banana Stand employee later told Detective Sgt. Kelly Hooper the man took $90 and injured her hand in the exchange. In an interview with Hooper, Alvarez told her he took the $90 from George’s and $50 from the McDonald’s cash drawer, Lay’s affidavit says. Alvarez told police he did not actually have a gun when he robbed the McDonald’s. He reportedly said he used the money to buy crack cocaine. Alvarez also told Hooper he has pending criminal cases in Kennebec County and robbed a Waterville bank in 2014. The affidavit also notes an “extensive” criminal history in Maine and Florida. According to archived news reports, in the 2014 robbery at Bangor Savings Bank on Main Street in Waterville, Alvarez took $3,715 in cash, wrapped up in a teller’s jacket. The robbery was a spur-of-the-moment decision, police said, and most of the stolen money was recovered. Alvarez pleaded guilty in June 2014 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but five years suspended and three years probation, the Kennebec Journal reported.