BEVERLY — A Beverly man admitted yesterday to inducing a younger man into committing a pair of holdups and another theft in 2010.
Shaun Levesque, 31, was sentenced to serve one year of a 21/2-year jail term, with the balance suspended for three years, along with three years of probation, during a hearing yesterday before Lawrence Superior Court Judge Maynard Kirpalani.
Levesque pleaded guilty to charges of armed robbery, armed robbery while masked, attempted armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and breaking and entering, the same charges lodged against a young Beverly man, Dasheem Dew, then 18, who police say was put up to the crimes by Levesque.
The holdups took place at the Tedeschi convenience store on Cabot Street on Dec. 13, 2010, and at the Century Bank on Rantoul Street on Dec. 14, 2010. The theft occurred at a Danvers hobby shop that prior summer.
Last June, prosecutor James Gubitose told a judge that Levesque had been recruiting younger teens and young adults who had no place to go, like Dew, and “grooming” them to commit crimes in exchange for a place to stay.
At the time he was indicted, Levesque was being held in a gas station holdup in Rhode Island, where he still faces trial. After posting bail in that case, he was turned over to authorities in Massachusetts and has been held on bail.





