Swampscott man gets 12 years for month-long crime spree

SALEM – A Swampscott man who went on a month-long crime spree in the summer of 2009 – robbing businesses in Saugus, Peabody and Salem to feed his heroin addiction – will serve 12 years in state prison for his crimes.Joseph F. Marino, III, 50, of 2 Hanley St., Swampscott, made his plea Thursday afternoon in Salem Superior Court to eight counts of armed robbery, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to rob and larceny over $250 before Judge David A. Lowy.Marino, who has been held at the Middleton Jail awaiting trial, was immediately transferred to state prison, where he will continue serving his punishment.The confession was the result of extensive negotiations between Assistant District Attorney Kristen R. Buxton and defense lawyer Rebecca E. Whitehill.On the morning of July 17, 2009, Marino walked into the Eastern Savings Bank on Route 1 in Saugus, intent on robbing it, but instead he saw a customer ahead of him in line leaving with a bag of money and a box of quarters.Marino followed the victim, who was the manager of Fuddrucker’s Restaurant in Saugus, out into the parking lot and robbed him at gunpoint.Three weeks later, on Aug. 8, Marino robbed three cartons of cigarettes, valued at $210 from CVS Highland Avenue drug store in Salem.The following day at 2:49 p.m., he walked into the 7-Eleven on North Street in Salem, pointed a handgun at the male clerk, demanded money and got away with $260. Marino was later identified through the store surveillance films.Then on Aug. 10 at 10:30 a.m., two men, one later identified as Marino, entered Eaton’s Apothecary on Centennial Drive in Peabody and demanded drugs and cash.Two weeks later, on Aug. 18, Marino and his accomplice, Joseph W. Rodenmacher, robbed approximately $9,000 from the Eastern Bank located at 605 Broadway in Saugus.Rodenmacher, 41, of Cambridge, pleaded guilty to his role in the bank robbery last month receiving five to seven years in state prison.