SALEM — A pair of North Shore men will spend two to five years in state prison for an 11-day bank robbery spree all over Essex County last year that netted them more than $11,000.
The Salem Superior Court judge who sentenced Kevin Maloney, 29, of Saugus and Jeffrey Monico, 30, of Peabody said he views the seven robberies and attempted robberies in Beverly, Danvers, Ipswich, Peabody, Andover and Lawrence as part of a crime spree that ended with the pair's arrest near a Nashua, N.H., credit union in May 2008.
Prosecutor Jean Curran, who had urged a six- to eight-year prison term following their federal sentences, said the spree began on April 17. The pair, who are originally both from Saugus, tried to rob a couple in Wakefield, Curran said, but they didn't get any money and decided it wasn't worthwhile to try to rob any more civilians.
Instead, they headed to a Salem Five branch at the Endicott Plaza in Danvers, where Monico walked in with a note and left with $620. Maloney was the driver in all but one of the robberies.
Two days later, they tried the same thing at another Salem Five branch on Route 35. This time, Monico walked out with $1,900, Curran said.
A few days later, they attempted to rob the Sovereign Bank on Route 114 in Peabody. Monico quickly drew the suspicion of a teller when he walked in with his ball cap pulled low over his face, holding a note scribbled on a napkin.
Monico asked the teller if she was open, and when she said she was, he slipped her the note and told her he wanted to make a withdrawal.
But the teller had already signaled for help, and Monico, spooked, grabbed the note and fled.
The pair had more success on April 24 at the Danversbank branch on High Street in Andover, where Monico walked in with a note scribbled on a napkin and left with $870.
The next day, they returned to the Merrimack Valley, hitting the Sovereign Bank on Route 114.
This time, it was Maloney who walked in with the Dunkin' Donuts napkin-turned-holdup note and came out with $2,100.
Three days later, on April 28, the pair started out by trying to hold up the Bank of America branch on Enon Street in Beverly.
But, Curran said, when Monico walked in with his holdup note on a napkin, the teller told him she was unable to help him. Monico fled, and the two headed north to Ipswich.
There, they had more success, getting away with $6,000 from the Sovereign Bank branch but leaving behind their holdup note.
Police identified the pair as suspects after getting fingerprints off that note.
Maloney told the judge yesterday that he was sorry for his actions.
"At the time, I was really messed up on drugs," he said. "It was pretty much running the show of my life."
Both Maloney and Monico are now serving three-year federal prison terms for the New Hampshire holdup. Judge Timothy Feeley ordered that they will serve their two- to five-year Massachusetts sentences after completing their federal terms, for a total of five to eight years behind bars, depending on whether they make parole.
"What I am trying to do is view the federal and state cases as one case," said Feeley, who is a former federal prosecutor. "What we basically have is about a two-week period of time in which there were eight robberies or attempted robberies."
He also took into account the fact that no weapons were used and that the two men decided to plead guilty — Monico on Oct. 21 and Maloney yesterday.
Feeley sentenced both to serve their prison terms on five unarmed robbery charges; they were given five years of probation for charges stemming from the attempted robberies. That means that once they get out of prison they will be on probation for five years and could face resentencing of up to life if they get into further trouble.
They were also ordered to pay $11,472 in restitution to the banks where they got the money.
