Bank robber Zip-tied victims, Feds say
A Martha’s Vineyard man has been charged with robbing a Cape Cod bank, as the feds accuse him of Ziptying bank tellers and customers while he pointed a gun and placed an alleged bomb on the counter.
Petar Petyoshin, 40, was charged by the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office with one count of armed bank robbery in connection to the April 8 robbery of the Rockland Trust Bank in Falmouth.
The feds say that Petyoshin
entered the bank just before 9 a.m., while wearing a blonde wig. He’s accused of placing a purported bomb on the teller counter and brandishing a firearm.
Petyoshin then allegedly pointed the gun at employees and customers, telling one bank employee, “I’m robbing you,” before having the customers and bank employees zip tie each other’s hands together.
He then had two tellers place more than $20,000 in cash into a brown Walmart bag, took a customer’s car keys, and fled the scene in the customer’s vehicle, the feds allege.
Surveillance footage from the area shows that 30 minutes before the robbery, a man matching Petyoshin’s description entered a nearby parking lot in a gray van, stayed in the vehicle for about 18 minutes, and then exited the van and walked toward the bank.
The man can be seen returning to the vehicle from the direction of the bank about 15 minutes after the robbery. Other surveillance footage captured the van traveling on the highway heading toward Mashpee following the robbery.
Petyoshin was later identified as the registered owner of the van, and cell phone information showed that Petyoshin was in the area of the bank at the time of the robbery.
On May 23, he was arrested on state charges in connection with the robbery. According to court documents, police during a search of his residence in Edgartown recovered thousands of dollars in cash bundled together in Rockland Trust money bands, zip ties, and clothing items the suspect was seen wearing on surveillance footage.
Also, 57 firearms and a large quantity of ammunition were seized during the search. The feds allege that the same jacket worn by the robber inside the Rockland Trust bank was found during a search of Petyoshin’s personal locker at the Oak Bluffs Water Department, where he’s employed.
He remains in state custody, and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.