Two Men Arraigned for Armed Robbery Likely to Face Grand Jury

Peabody police have now arrested two men who are being charged with the armed robbery at Town Variety on Sunday night and will also be facing charges in other North Shore holdups in recent days.

Dennis Porter, 43, of Lynn, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Peabody District Court for armed robbery. Glenn Roderick, 41, of Peabody, was already arraigned on that same charge on Tuesday.

Police now say it was Porter who allegedly entered the convenience store Sunday night around 9 p.m., showed a weapon to the clerk and demanded cash.

The robbers made off with approximately $2,000 from a lottery machine cash drawer, reports the Salem News.

According to an incident report filed at Roderick's arraignment, police say one suspect walked to the counter and asked the clerk to cash his winning scratch ticket. When the clerk scanned the ticket and discovered it wasn't a winner, the man then pulled a gun and demanded cash.

Police said the clerk gave the man the entire drawer and the robber then stuffed his jacket pockets full of cash before fleeing the store.

Police said the suspects fled in a silver van and bailed from the vehicle after pulling up in front of a house on Endicott Street.

Police said one man ran into an apartment while a second man was outside the unit. As officers arrived, the first suspect escaped through a window and then police discovered the second man had taken off as well before they could question him.

The incident report, according to the Salem News, says it was Roderick who ran into the home and jumped out the rear window. An officer then found a black BB gun inside the house, according to that report.

Peabody officers with assistance from the Danvers K-9 unit and state police helicopters and K-9s then spent more than two hours hunting for the two men, but the trail went cold.

The Salem News reports that police found a cigarette box inside the van, containing a glass pipe typically used with drugs, along with a dark sweatshirt seen on the suspect in surveillance footage.

Roderick is now being held on $5,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty to armed robbery. He is due back in court Dec. 18.