Dunkin’ manager allegedly kidnapped, robbed at gunpoint in Salem

Two men were recently arrested on charges related to the armed robbery of a Dunkin’ manager in Salem, police said. One of the men was reportedly in a relationship with the manager. 

On Sept. 6 at about 1 p.m., Salem police responded to a call from someone near the intersection of Linden Street and Forest Avenue reporting an armed robbery. Police arrived and spoke with the victim, who said she was leaving the Dunkin’ that she managed when the alleged robbery took place.

The manager said she was getting in her car with a bag containing the shop’s cash deposits when a man appeared next to her in the driver’s side door. He was wearing dark clothes and a blue surgical mask. The man told her to move over and not to look at him. He held her at gunpoint, police said.  

The man then drove a short distance before he bound the manager and fled with the money, police said. The intersection of Linden Street and Forest Avenue, where police received the initial call from, is around the block from a Dunkin’. 

After an investigation, police arrested Jose Luis Mendoza-Baez, 26, of Salem on Sept. 9. Officers also arrested Yoel Perez-Feliz, 33, of Marblehead on Sept. 13. 

The two men acted in a “joint venture” to orchestrate the robbery, according to police. They were charged with armed robbery, carjacking while armed, and kidnapping while armed. 

The victim’s bag held $6,000 in cash from the store that she was supposed to deposit at Eastern Bank, WCVB reported. Surveillance video showed a man hiding behind nearby trucks and waiting for the manager before approaching her with a gun and forcing his way into the car. 

Perez-Feliz is the manager’s boyfriend, and police believe he worked with Mendoza-Baez. The latter is believed to have been the one to actually conduct the robbery and kidnapping, WCVB reported. 

Both men were held without bail pending dangerousness hearings.