Man charged in 2021 Darien bank robbery

DARIEN — Police have arrested a Massachusetts man accused of jumping the counter at a local bank on Christmas Eve 2021, making off with thousands of dollars, which authorities were able to trace using a GPS tracker

Darien police said officers went to the Old Colony Correction Center in Bridgewater, Mass., last Friday to extradite 42-year-old Joshua Riley on a warrant charging him with second-degree robbery in the incident. Police said Riley, a resident of Bellingham, Mass., had his bail set at $250,000, and is due to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Nov. 20.

On Dec. 24, 2021, Darien police were called to the Peoples Bank on Old Kings Highway North for a holdup alarm. On their way to the bank, officers were told that a GPS tracker was moving north on Interstate 95, police said.

“The bank manager advised officers that a male, later identified as Joshua Riley, entered the bank and jumped the counter without saying anything,” Darien police said in a news release Tuesday.

Based on the GPS tracker, police traced the stolen money to Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. In the parking lot, police found a blue vehicle that had the tracker inside.

Police in Woonsocket, R.I., were able to reach the car’s owner, who informed authorities he’d lent the car to Riley, the news release said.

A search of the car turned up $2,746 from the robbery, as well as two GPS trackers in the sealed money packs, Darien police said.

Police obtained the warrant for Riley’s arrest in January last year, police said.