SALEM – A Lynn man who was out on bail for allegedly stealing $50 from a woman in January and then was caught peddling a sawed-off shotgun to an individual seven months later will have to come up with $10,000 cash to get out of the Middleton Jail until his trial.Rashad Shepard, 22, of 9 McKinley Terrace, appeared Wednesday afternoon in Salem Superior Court for his arraignment on his newest charge.He pleaded innocent to possession of a sawed-off shotgun before Judge Timothy Q. Feeley.As jointly agreed by the prosecutor and defense, the judge set the cash bail and agreed to leave the door open for a bail review at another court hearing.The charge arises out of an incident in Lynn on July 22 when he apparently sold a 9mm sawed-off shotgun to a cooperating witness for $250 on Collins Street, a charge that will net him a mandatory 18-month jail term if convicted, according to police.Shepard also faces an unarmed robbery charge stemming from an incident on Jan. 13 when he allegedly stole $50 from a 40-year-old woman walking near Chatham Street. The victim told authorities that the suspect, whom she knew as a person who had lived in the same building as her, came up to her, put his arm around her throat and grabbed about $50 from her jacket and fled. The woman immediately reported the incident to police and told them she recognized the thief as a former neighbor.Police arrested Shepard a short time later. He has denied the charge.He had been free on $500 cash bail on the case.Shepard is scheduled to be back in court on both cases Dec. 6.
