Chelmsford police have charged two Lawrence men in connection with a July 15 bank robbery at a Citizens Bank branch inside a Stop & Shop.
Police charged Stephen Callahan, 55, with armed robbery, and Stephen Delong, 53, with armed robbery as a joint venture and misleading a police investigator.
"I am proud of the hard work done by Chelmsford police detectives in bringing this case to a close," Deputy Police Chief James M. Spinney said in a statement. "Additionally, the level of teamwork shown by several municipal police departments and the State Police, along with good, old fashioned detective work brought these two dangerous individuals to justice today."
Police were called to the Stop & Shop at 299 Chelmsford St. around 2:42 p.m. on July 15 on a report of a bank robbery.
Police who arrived on the scene found a clear plastic bag in the parking lot containing money covered in red dye from an exploded dye pack.
According to police, bank employees said a skinny white man came into the store, jumped over the counter, displayed a knife and began emptying the drawers into a plastic bag. He demanded the tellers open more drawers and when they were unable to, the robber jumped back over the counter and fled, bank employees told police.
Police said witnesses saw the robber run through the woods toward the Chelmsford Mall and got into the passenger seat of a red pickup truck and that witnesses had gotten a license plate number from the truck.
That number led police to a 1997 Subaru owned by a Billerica woman, whose boyfriend was identified as Delong. Throughout the investigation, police said Delong lied and tried to mislead detectives.
Police found the Subaru at Delong’s apartment in Lawrence, and a responding officer saw a black folding knife, in plain view through the windshield, matching the description of the knife used in the robbery, police said.
Subsequent interviews with Delong led police to look for a man named "Stephen Calloway from Dorchester," but police said Delong was honest about one thing: he gave police the cell phone number for Callahan, which investigators used to zero in on the alleged robber.
As Chelmsford detectives were investigating, on July 17, Lawrence police notified Chelmsford that there had just been a robbery in their city at a Santander branch. Lawrence police arrested Callahan at the scene and noted that he matched the description and was wearing the same looking clothes, shoes, and gloves from the Chelmsford robbery, police said. Callahan may face additional charges in connection with a third bank robbery in Lawrence.
Delong was to be arraigned Monday in Lowell District Court. Callahan will face a judge for his charges in Lawrence first.
