Ryan Messina, the Methuen man alleged to have commandeered a car at gunpoint in Lawrence and then robbed a bank in Haverhill last June, is considering changing his plea.
Ryan’s attorney, Amy Sixt, appeared in Essex County Superior Court Friday and requested a change of plea hearing. The date was set on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 2:30 p.m.
Messina, 37, is charged with unarmed robbery, larceny over $1,200, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and receiving a stolen motor vehicle. He is being held in the Essex County House of Correction in Middleton on $300,000 cash bail.
As WHAV reported in June, Essex County Assistant District Attorney Olivia Brooks said Messina is alleged to have ordered a person out of a white Honda CRV in Lawrence shortly after noon, Monday, June 2. He is alleged to have driven to the Westgate branch of Pentucket Bank, 395 Lowell Ave., in Haverhill, put on a mask and sunglasses and handed the teller a note demanding $10,000. He was given the cash and left the bank in the same car. Brooks said security cameras caught the stolen vehicle entering and leaving the bank’s parking lot.
Haverhill Police detectives with the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police, FBI and Methuen Police located Messina near his home the next day.