NORTH READING -- Chief Michael P. Murphy reports that
the suspect from an armed robbery last week is in custody.
On Saturday, March 16, at approximately 3:20 a.m.,
North Reading Police responded to a report of an armed, masked robbery at the
7-Eleven Convenience Store on Main Street. A man entered the store, and
brandished a knife and demanded money from the clerk. The clerk was not
injured.
North Reading Police are aware of four similar
robberies in the area: at a Lowell Pawn Shop on Thursday, March 14; a Haverhill
convenience store on Saturday, March 16; a Tewksbury convenience store on
Saturday, March 16; and a Wilmington convenience store on Tuesday, March 19.
An investigation undertaken by North Reading Police
and police in Tewksbury, Haverhill Lowell, Lawrence, and Massachusetts State
Police led to the suspect.
DENNIS WASHINGTON, AGE 26, OF LAWRENCE was arrested by
Police Wednesday in Lawrence. He was later held on an outstanding warrant for
robbery.
North Reading Police applied for an arrest warrant for
the robbery that occurred in North Reading. A warrant was subsequently issued,
out of Woburn District Court for WASHINGTON, charging him with Masked Armed
Robbery and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon.
WASHINGTON, who is known to police, is being held at the
Middleton House of Correction pending arraignment’s in Lowell and Woburn
District Courts. Additional charges from North Reading and other communities
may be added.
“This is another good example of how a dangerous
individual, and in this case a one-man crime spree, has been removed from the streets
through collaboration between several local and state law enforcement
agencies.”- Chief Roy Vasque