Haverhill Police assisted an out-of-state agency Wednesday with the capture of a wanted fugitive from Weymouth on the run after allegedly committing two brazen daytime bank robberies in that state.
Forty-one-year-old Kevin Donovan was picked up in Haverhill’s Central Plaza on June 12 after his cell phone pinged near the Merrimack Valley Credit Union just after 4 p.m., Haverhill Police said in court documents obtained by WHAV.
Rhode Island police had been on Donovan’s tail since May 23, when they say he entered an East Providence Citizens Bank wearing a hat and sunglasses, removed an envelope from a stack at a teller’s window and wrote a note that read, “No die packs, sorry” before slipping it to a clerk at a different window.
The teller complied with Donovan’s request and he exited the bank with $3,475, police said.
He also carried out a June 3 cash grab at a Citizens Bank in North Providence, R.I., making off with approximately $2,000, according to police. During that incident, Donovan—a marketing sales rep—was said to have passed a note that read, “Please don’t yell, let’s make this fast. It was either this or kill myself. No die packs. Quick! Very sorry.”
Rhode Island police tied Donovan to the crime after lifting his fingerprint from the first bank note and matching his surveillance photo to an active Facebook profile page. They used that information—along with his vehicle records—to secure a June 11 arrest warrant for second-degree robbery, which was disseminated to area law enforcement agencies, including the Haverhill Police Department.
Several Haverhill Police officers—including arresting Officer Brittney Birch—were sent to Central Plaza last week once Rhode Island police were alerted to the trace of Donovan’s phone. Once on scene, Haverhill Police discovered Donovan was in possession of 14 suboxone strips and two Gabapentin pills he “bought off of some girl,” police said.
Arraigned for his crimes in Haverhill District Court last week, Donovan was ordered held without bail pending a pre-trial conference Monday.