SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — South Portland police have arrested a man they believe is the suspect in a recent bank robbery and threat that forced the evacuation of several businesses near the Maine Mall one week ago.
Jason Arsenault, 41, has been charged with robbery, theft, terrorizing and unauthorized use of property, the department said Friday in a news release.
Shortly before noon Friday, Jan. 26, South Portland police responded to a call about a robbery at the Key Bank located at 445 Gorham Road.
According to investigators, the suspect in a vehicle displayed a note to workers there demanding cash and stating he had an explosive device. After obtaining an unknown amount of cash, the man reportedly left the bank and drove away in a black Chevrolet Suburban, South Portland police said in a Facebook post.
That vehicle was found abandoned about a mile away from the bank at a business park on John Roberts Road near the Maine Mall, prompting police to evacuate the buildings in the area until emergency officials could clear the scene, due to the nature of the suspect's bomb threat, according to previous reporting.
On Jan. 30, after an initial investigation, the department released photographs of the person they believed to be the suspect.
After investigating several tips from the public, Arsenault was identified as a suspect, the release stated. He was found around 10 p.m. Thursday inside a parked vehicle on Mabel Street in Portland and was taken into custody without incident, police said.
Arsenault was brought to the Cumberland County Jail on $25,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
Arsenault’s vehicle was towed back to the South Portland Police Department, awaiting the issuance of a search warrant, according to the release. Police said Arsenault led investigators to the location of nearly all of the $30,000 that was apparently stolen during the robbery.