Mansfield Bank Robbery Suspect Caught in Nearby Store
It was a slow Monday at Grogan Marciano Sporting Goods in Mansfield until a nearby bank was robbed.
According to a statement from the Mansfield Police Department, police responded to the Bank of America around 12:39 p.m. for a report of a robbery. Bank personnel described the suspect who entered the bank and demanded cash but did not display a weapon.
The suspect fled on foot with an unknown amount of cash. However, the suspect, identified by police as 43-year-old Derek J. Kaufman of Norfolk, was soon arrested and charged with unarmed robbery after an employee at Grogan Marciano flagged down police because of a suspicious person inside the store, according to the statement.
Derek J. Kaufman
A retail associate at Grogan Marciano, who did not want to be named, told Boston.com Tuesday the incident began when a man came into the store around midday and asked if he could leave a duffle bag while he went to the bank. The associate said this didn’t strike him as unusual because the store is right near the train station and people often come in to ask to use the phone, charge their phone, or wait inside while they’re waiting for the train.
The man went across the street to the bank and came back two to three minutes later, according to the associate, and nothing seemed suspicious.
“He was looking around, I figured he was waiting for the train,’’ he said.
Upon his return, the man went into the dressing room to try on a sweatshirt, and the associate said while the man was in there a police officer came in and told him the bank had been robbed and asked if there was anyone in the store.
The associate said he told the officer there was a man in the dressing room, but when the man came out, the officer said he didn’t match the suspect’s description and left.
The man asked if he could buy the sweatshirt and another item; he had taken the tag off and wanted to wear it out of the store, according to the associate.
While he was ringing him up, the associate said he started to get “suspicious’’ because he knew the man had gone to the bank, but he didn’t want to make a scene in case the man was armed.
The associate said the man then pulled a “decent amount of cash out of his sock.’’
After the transaction was finished, the man went to the front of the store and “crouched down and looked at the street,’’ the associate said. Police were in front of the store, and the intersection had been blocked.
At this point, the associate said he walked to the store’s back exit and flagged down an officer.
While he didn’t find out until later that the man wasn’t armed, the associate said he didn’t feel in danger during the incident since the man “seemed really calm.’’
“He didn’t seem too smart about the situation,’’ he said.
The Mansfield Police Department did not immediately return calls requesting more information.
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