BANGOR, Maine — An Etna father and son charged in connection with a March robbery at a West Enfield credit union remained Friday night at the Penobscot County Jail unable to post $25,000 cash bail each.
Edward Cooney, 56, and Christopher Cooney, 30, are charged with Class B robbery.
They made their first court appearance Friday afternoon before District Court Judge John Lucy by video conference from the jail. The Cooneys were not asked to enter pleas because they have not yet been indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury.
The grand jury next convenes May 25.
Christopher Cooney told police that his father drove him to a Citgo station near the Penobscot County Credit Union in West Enfield and dropped him off but that his father did not know he intended to rob it, according to the affidavit.
The son walked into the credit union about 8:13 a.m. March 28 and handed the teller a note demanding money, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Friday at a press conference. Christopher Cooney did not brandish a weapon but kept his hand in a pocket to indicate he might have one, the prosecutor said.
The younger Cooney, who wore a surgical mask, fled the credit union on foot with $3,200, none of which has been recovered, Almy said.
The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office interviewed witnesses who had reported seeing a black Jeep Cherokee in the area of the credit union at the time of the robbery but did not identify a suspect until April after Edward Cooney was arrested in connection with an unrelated burglary to a motor vehicle.
By tracing the license plates on the black Jeep Cherokee that a deputy saw parked at the Cooneys’ home when the older Cooney was arrested, investigators found the vehicle’s previous owner. He told them Christopher Cooney had bought the vehicle before the bank robbery but failed to pay for it. A few days after the robbery, Christopher Cooney’s parents met the previous owner of the vehicle at a Brewer restaurant and gave him a $1,000 payment for the Jeep.
When investigators interviewed Edward Cooney earlier this week, he said that he learned his son had robbed the credit union when he saw a photograph of the suspected robber released by the sheriff’s department published in the Bangor Daily News, the affidavit said. He did not report it to the police.
Under Maine law a person who is an accessory to a crime faces the same charge as the person who committed the crime. Consideration for how involved an accessory might have been in a particular crime is taken into consideration at sentencing.
When Christopher Cooney was arrested Thursday, he allegedly told investigators that he robbed the credit union to feed his drug habit.
Both Cooney men have criminal histories, Almy said.
The men are next scheduled to appear in court on July 5.
If convicted, each faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.