Teens arrested in Bangor robbery Cab driver, taxi dispatcher help police

BANGOR – A taxi driver and his dispatcher tracked a car carrying teenagers moments after the owner of a convenience store flagged down the cabbie and told him he had been robbed, witnesses and police said Wednesday.

Two teenage males entered the Neighbor-Hood Market on the corner of Stillwater Avenue and Grove Street around 2:45 p.m., wearing ski masks and armed with a gun, police said. They allegedly demanded money from the male clerk, then ran from the store empty-handed.

They were arrested within 10 minutes in Brewer. Police reported no injuries.

A Dick’s Taxi driver who was headed down Grove Street at the time of the incident said he saw the teens.

“Two kids came running out of the market, and then the owner came out and said, ‘Those two kids robbed me and they have a gun,'” driver Robert Young, 39, of Charleston said Wednesday evening after his shift ended. “I called Mark [Hallett, the taxi dispatcher] and told him to call 911 because two teenagers tried to rob the store.”

A man who answered the store’s phone Wednesday evening declined to comment on the incident.

The two males who walked into the store allegedly flashed a black .22-caliber pistol, but apparently panicked.

“Halfway through the robbery they got scared and ran,” Young said.

“After I spoke to the owner, I turned around and saw them walking on Elm Street,” Young said. “I went past Elm and then I saw them run to a car and they jumped in it.”

Young followed the green 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo until he lost sight of it on Broadway.

“He kept telling me where they were [over the radio] and I was telling [police] dispatch,” Hallett said.

It was not clear Wednesday night whether the third teen had been a waiting driver.

Young said he was happy the day ended with arrests.

“I was going to go up and possibly tackle them,” he said but added that he reconsidered after remembering they were armed. “I decided to watch them and gave the police directions.”

Once police were alerted, all officers were on alert for the vehicle, which eventually made its way to South Main Street in Brewer, where it was stopped by Brewer police officers at 2:51 p.m.

Kevin McAvoy 18, of Bucksport, Craig Withee 18, of Prospect and a 17-year-old male from Bucksport were taken into custody and charged with armed robbery. A handgun, which police said was loaded, was recovered from the car.

The adults were taken to Penobscot County Jail in Bangor, where they remained Wednesday night. They will likely appear today in 3rd District Court in Bangor. A jail official could not say where the juvenile was or when he will appear in court.

Another green Chevrolet was stopped during the search on Harlow Street in Bangor, Detective Sgt. Chip Hodges of the Bangor Police Department said Wednesday.

“Because of the nature of the [armed robbery] call, they did a felony stop, but it didn’t take long to determine this was the wrong person,” he said.

In the last two and a half weeks, three robbery incidents have occurred in the region, with two in Bangor in which people were arrested and another in Hudson in which no arrest has occurred.

On Feb. 8, a man described as a white male between 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 4 inches, robbed Roger’s Market in Hudson at gunpoint for an undisclosed amount of money.

In Bangor, police arrested Shawn Conary, 33, for allegedly attempting to rob a Chinese restaurant on Center Street at knifepoint and allegedly assaulting an employee on Jan. 26.

On Jan. 29 a 17-year-old male is accused of robbing the Rite Aid Pharmacy at Third and Union streets in Bangor. He held a finger under his jacket, which gave the clerk the impression he had a weapon.