Boston woman charged in bank robbery after bystander spots ‘red smoke’ coming from her pocket

A woman was charged with robbing a South Boston bank Wednesday after an eagle-eyed bystander saw “red smoke” coming from her pocket and stopped her on the street, according to police.

Officers responded to a Rockland Trust Bank on Southampton Street around 11:18 a.m. Wednesday and learned that a woman had just robbed the bank and fled, Boston police said in a news release.

Police broadcast the woman’s description and searched the area before a bystander flagged officers down on Father Songin Way, where he had restrained a woman matching the suspect’s description. 

He told officers that while driving down Boston Street toward the MBTA’s Andrew Station, he noticed the woman — later identified as 38-year-old Boston resident Miriam Dealmeida — running from the bank parking lot with red smoke coming from her sweatshirt pocket. The smoke presumably originated from from a security dye pack.

According to police, the man followed Dealmeida, apprehended her, and alerted a nearby officer.

Dealmeida was arrested and charged with unarmed bank robbery. A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf in South Boston court Thursday, and Dealmeida was ordered held on $2,500 bail, according to online court records.

Her lawyer, Tim Bransfield, said during her arraignment that Dealmeida is battling addiction and served a previous sentence for unarmed robbery, according to WBZ. 

“This is a product more of mental health and addiction issues if anything at all,” Bransfield said, according to the news outlet. A call to Bransfield for comment went unanswered Friday morning. 

Dealmeida will be subject to GPS monitoring if she makes bail, court records show.

Boston police also suggested that Dealmeida could face additional charges in connection with a separate bank robbery that happened earlier on Wednesday at East West Bank in Chinatown. Online court records show an unarmed robbery charge filed against Dealmeida in the Boston Municipal Court’s Central Division Thursday; an arraignment has not yet been held.

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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