Musician accused of robbing drug store with Blackberry, then fleeing to tour bus

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

ATTLEBORO-- Hours before bassist Michael R. Todd and his band were to perform Sunday night at the Comcast Center in Mansfield as the warm-up act for the popular ’90s band Soundgarden, he allegedly robbed a Walgreens drug store of oxycodone using his Blackberry, according to authorities.

Todd, a member of Coheed and Cambria, a rock band from New York that is currently on tour with Soundgarden, allegedly walked into the store at Pleasant Street and Starkey Avenue in Attleboro and demanded that the pharmacist there give him the potent painkiller.

The 30-year-old from New York allegedly held his Blackberry cellphone up to show the pharmacist a note on the screen that he had a bomb and wanted her to give him the prescription pain-killers, according to court records.

Todd allegedly fled the store and caught a taxi to his brown tour bus parked alongside the Comcast Center. The taxi company told police the fare had been dropped off at that location, according to the records.

Yesterday, while his band continued on tour with a replacement bassist, Todd was arraigned in Attleboro District Court on armed robbery and drug possession charges.

His attorney, Sandra Ferreira, pleaded not guilty on his behalf. Todd was ordered held on $25,000 cash bail and faces a preliminary hearing on Aug. 9.

Todd, sporting a scruffy beard and a beige T-shirt at the arraignment, scanned the crowd several times, but didn’t appear to notice anyone in attendance.

The robbery allegedly occurred at 12:55 p.m. and the band was scheduled to go onstage at 7:30 p.m. Coheed and Cambria formed in 1995, and Todd joined a year later and was a member until 2006. He rejoined the band in 2007.