Robber allegedly steals from TV ad
The first time, authorities said, Timothy Connor just slipped a note to a bank teller. The next time, he slipped the note while nonchalantly talking on his cellphone, an act, police said, that mimicked a Super Bowl commercial.
Then he stopped using notes altogether. He just spoke on the cellphone, and demanded the money. After one robbery, police said, he shook the woman teller's hand after she gave him the money, as if it were a common transaction.
Connor, who is also known to police as David Connor, allegedly took almost $6,000 from two banks and a liquor store over eight days beginning late last month.
He was arrested in Boston on Friday on unrelated charges, and police said they matched his face with those on the videotapes from the robberies.
His technique, police said, is similar to one used in an Ameriquest Mortgage Company commercial that debuted during the Super Bowl. In the commercial, a man talking on his cellphone at a convenience store tells the person on the phone that he/she is getting robbed, and the store clerk thinks the store is being robbed.
''Watching the surveillance tape, he mimicked that commercial exactly," said Officer Michael McCarthy, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department.
Connor is scheduled to be arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court on charges of robbing Beacon Hill Wine and Spirits on Thursday, McCarthy said. He will then be extradited to Rhode Island, where he faces charges for robbing a
Police said Connor's string of robberies began at 12:10 p.m. on March 31 -- the day after his birthday -- when he passed a note to a bank teller in Providence. He left with $4,000, according to Providence police. On April 6 at 3 p.m., police said, he walked into a bank in Smithfield and again presented the bank teller with a note.
''It said he had a weapon, and he wanted the money, and he didn't want any alarms," said Detective Sergeant Michael Rheaume of the Smithfield Police Department. A surveillance camera showed him talking on his cellphone while he robbed the bank, police said.
The next night, he was on Beacon Hill and walked into a liquor store on Charles Street, police said. While talking on his cellphone, he said to the cashier: ''I know you don't want to hear this, but empty the cash drawer," according to police. ''You heard me, empty the cash drawer. I have a gun, and I have two people in the car."
He asked for 60 seconds to escape and then shook the woman's hand before fleeing.
On Friday night, several residents called police about a man driving a 1999 Kia that hit several cars at Mount Vernon and Charles streets in Beacon Hill. When police responded, they found Connor driving in the wrong direction on nearby Brimmer Street. They arrested him for driving without a license. Also there was a warrant for his arrest for missing a court hearing after he was arrested for public drunkenness in 1999.
After arresting Connor, police identified him as the person who had robbed the liquor store.
Connor told Boston police that his name is David Connor, a 38-year-old living in South Boston. Police in Providence and Smithfield have him listed as Timothy Connor, a 42-year-old who is ''known to stay at local hotels."
Police believe it is the same person because of the surveillance film, and because he was driving the Kia. Boston police notified Rhode Island police over the weekend that they had caught Connor, who had already been put on Rhode Island's most wanted list.
McCarthy, the Boston police spokesman, said the cellphone has been recovered, but the stolen money has not. Police say they have no other suspects and are awaiting a search warrant for Connor's car, which has been impounded.
Matt Viser can be reached at viser@globe.com.
