Police source: Heist was a ‘big one,’ brought in over $200k

By George P. Hassett

A bank heist that began with the abduction of a female bank employee Friday night and ended with Somerville police finding the woman tied up in the basement of the bank Saturday morning, brought in over $200,000 for the suspect or suspects responsible for the job, a police source said.

The suspect or suspects abducted a female employee of the East Cambridge Savings Bank on Highland Ave. Friday night, drove around with her for 10 hours and brought her back to the bank early the next morning before it opened, said a police source. Gail Marcinkiewicz, spokeswoman for the FBI, confirmed to the media there had been an abduction prior to the robbery.

Police received a call for a possible break-in at the bank at 8:15 a.m. Saturday and rushed the scene to find the woman tied up in the basement. Police said the suspect or suspects fled the area in the woman’s car.

Somerville Police Captain Paul Upton said police are working with the FBI on an “aggressive investigation” but are dealing with unusual circumstances in the robbery.

“This is unlike a regular bank robbery in the middle of the day where a suspect passes a note to a teller and is caught on video surveillance cameras and seen by witnesses,” he said. “This is an unusual case. We only have one witness with an uncorroborated story,” he said.

The police source said the female bank employee could not give investigators a description of the person who abducted her, leading some detectives to believe she may have been involved in the crime. The source described the heist as “a big one” and said over $200,000 had been taken.

The weekend robbery is a departure from most recent heists which typically involve a single person walking into a bank, passing a note to the teller demanding money and running out. Recent Somerville bank robbers were more notable for unique nicknames such as “the baby faced bandit” and “the average Joe bank robber” than for the actual skill or success of their crimes.

Upton said robberies involving the level of planning such as the one at East Cambridge Savings Bank this weekend are unusual in Somerville and beyond.

“It’s pretty rare to see something like this anywhere. We had one robbery like this in the mid to late 1980’s at Somerset Bank in Union Square. They broke in overnight and waited for the manager to come in to rob the place,” he said.

Upton said Somerville Police met with the FBI Tuesday to discuss the investigation. He said detectives are interviewing people and following leads.