BELFAST – As investigators worked Monday to determine if he could be connected to similar crimes, a Unity man was scheduled to appear today in 5th District Court on charges of armed robbery and eluding a police officer.

Sean D. Kivlin, 29, was arrested Friday after a chase through two counties that ended in Appleton and began moments after the Unity Pharmacy was robbed. He is being held at Waldo County Jail.

The robbery was similar to two other drugstore robberies in Fairfield and Pittsfield. All three took place on the 21st of the month and involved a lone, masked robber armed with a knife and a gun. A customer was stabbed outside the Pittsfield store during a struggle.

Nobody has been charged in the Fairfield and Pittsfield robberies. The Unity branch of Bangor Savings Bank was robbed Jan. 6 by a man who was masked and brandished a gun. No one has been charged in that case either.

On Monday, investigators from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department, Maine State Police and Fairfield Police Department met in Belfast to discuss their options. No formal action was taken after the one-hour meeting, according to Waldo County Chief Deputy Bob Keating.

“It was a productive meeting,” Keating said. “We are devoting, as are the Maine State Police, an awful lot of resources on these robberies. There are a lot of similarities in these, and our investigators are putting in a lot of effort.”

Keating, Sheriff Scott Story, Detective Greg Stearns, Deputy Jason Bosco, five state police detectives, a detective from Fairfield and a representative from the District Attorney’s Office took part in Monday’s session. Keating said the Pittsfield Police Department was kept abreast of the situation by telephone.

Kivlin allegedly walked into the Unity Pharmacy at noon Friday with a pillowcase over his head, carrying a gun and a knife. Police say the intruder herded customers and employees into a corner and demanded drugs. Instead of supplying the intruder with drugs, however, pharmacist Shane Savage gave him bottles filled with M&M candies.

When the man attempted to make his getaway in a Dodge Neon, Savage followed him down the road and contacted police on his cell phone. Savage continued to provide police with location reports as the car sped from Unity.

Savage lost sight of the car at Knox Corner, but by that time police had converged on the area from various directions. State police Detective Scott Bryant caught sight of the Neon on Route 3 in Searsmont and gave chase across the Knox County line into Appleton.

The car was met there by state police Sgt. Tom Ballard, who had positioned a spike mat across Route 131 in anticipation of the suspect’s arrival. Kivlin punctured two tires crossing the spike mat and came to a stop about a mile down the road. Kivlin was arrested at the scene, about a half-hour after the robbery.

Kivlin apparently swallowed some of the M&Ms he believed were narcotics during the chase. When he was arrested he informed police he was diabetic and was taken to Waldo General Hospital as a precaution, Keating said.

“He indicated that he was diabetic and told the officer he did not feel well. So we took him to the hospital,” said Keating.

Kivlin, who is married and the father of three children, is scheduled to appear in Belfast District Court at 1 p.m. today.