New Hampshire police arrested a man suspected in a string of bank robberies, including ones in Gardner and Leominster.
New Hampshire state police arrested Matthew F. Pinion, 30, at a home at 650 Old Walpole Road in Surry, N.H., for his alleged connection with a series bank robberies in Massachusetts and Vermont, according to police.
Police charged Pinion Thursday with being a fugitive from justice in Massachusetts and for the Nov. 7 robbery of the Fidelity Bank in Gardner, according to a statement released by Gardner Police Chief Neil Erickson.
“This is a fluid investigation and is ongoing,” Erickson wrote.
Pinion is suspected of robbing banks in Leominster, Gardner and Brattleboro, Vt., according to Gardner Police Lt. Gerald Poirier, by using a note demanding money.
Pinion is being held at the Cheshire County House of Correction in Westmoreland, N.H., while awaiting extradition to Massachusetts to face the Gardner charges, according to Erickson.
A man wearing sunglasses and a hat used a note to demand money and then put the stolen cash inside a newspaper on Nov. 7 in Gardner, according to Poirier.
A man matching that description and method robbed a Leominster bank in August and Poirier matched the surveillance photos of the suspect in the two crimes.
Poirier was able to find a third bank robbery, in Vermont, with a similar method and suspect.
Gardner police worked with Massachusetts state police, New Hampshire state police, Worcester County District Attorney Joe Early’s office and agents with the Federal Bureau of investigations, Erickson wrote.
