Salem couple held without bail after brazen local bank robberies

PEABODY-A Salem couple eyed by authorities for robbing four banks along Route 1 in Saugus and Lynnfield since December are due back in Peabody District Court Tuesday for a dangerousness hearing.Until then, Judge James O’Leary ordered Daniel J. Buckley Jr., 34 and Rachel K. Fulton, 28, of 7A Buffum St. Extension, Salem, to remain held without bail.At their status review hearing Thursday, the couple was only charged with Tuesday’s robbery of the Eastern Bank on Route 1 in Lynnfield, according to Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s spokesperson Steve O’Connell,However, reports filed by State Police show the couple is suspected in robbing the same Lynnfield bank on Dec. 1 as well as the Eastern Bank at 605 Broadway (Route 1) in Saugus on Dec. 8 and the Saugusbank at 412 Lynn Fells Parkway on Dec. 21.On Tuesday at about 1:30 p.m., Fulton allegedly passed a note to a teller that stated, “Don’t move a finger. Hit the button and you get shot straight threw your chest. Any die packs and you will be hunted like a ****** animal, fast as you can, pass note back immediatly. Deadly serious.”However, police say the couple didn’t seem deadly serious about robbing the Sovereign Bank in Saugus on Monday, one day before the Lynnfield robbery. A man and a woman that closely resembled the couple walked into the Sovereign at Saugus Plaza wearing scarves and other clothing covering their faces. Police say an employee asked the couple to remove the clothing but instead they turned around and ran out of the bank scared.About a half-hour after Tuesday’s robbery, the couple allegedly fled to Buckley’s parents house on Nicholson Street in Lynn, where police were conducting surveillance outside. On Monday, police received an anonymous tip that the couple had “bragged” about robbing the three other banks to friends.When the two got into Buckley’s 1996 green Ford Explorer a Saugus Detective and Lynn police officers stopped the vehicle at the corner of Walnut Street and O’Callaghan Way in Lynn. Fulton already had four outstanding warrants for her arrest and while conducting a search of the SUV, police said they found the exact amount of cash that was stolen from the Lynnfield Eastern Bank about an hour earlier.Most of the cash was found in a trash bag tied around a belt loop on Buckley and the rest of it was found inside Fulton’s bra, police said.Some of the serial numbers on the bills were marked by the bank in the event of a robbery and were given to the suspects. Police said those bills, also known as “bait money,” were found in the couple’s possession.