A Superior Court judge Tuesday ordered an evaluation of a 37-year-old Methuen man, alleged to have robbed a Westgate bank branch, before deciding on whether to proceed to trial.
Essex County Superior Court Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman, during a hearing, sent Ryan Messina back to Bridgewater State Hospital for 20 days for an evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial. At his last hearing in January, Messina said through his attorney he is interested in a possible plea deal. Yesterday’s change of plea hearing, however, was cancelled, according to court documents.
Messina spent 20 days in Bridgewater in October for a similar evaluation.
Messina is charged with unarmed robbery, larceny over $1,200, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and receiving a stolen motor vehicle. He has been 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 car entering and leaving the bank’s parking lot.
Haverhill Police detectives with the assistance of Massachusetts State Police, FBI and Methuen Police located Messina near his home the next day.