Peabody man indicted for Middleton convenience store robbery

SALEM – A Peabody man who was thwarted by a 55-year-old man with a prosthetic leg after allegedly robbing a Middleton convenience store of $98 was indicted Wednesday by an Essex County grand jury.Eric F. Homen, 23, of 7 Raymond Circle, Peabody, is charged with armed robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with a holdup at Nick’s Grocery Store in Middleton last month.According to reports, it was just before 9 p.m. on March 30 when a man came into the convenience store located at 323 N. Main St., Middleton, brandishing a black handgun and demanding cash.A regular customer of the store, Stephen Cornell, 55, saw what was happening from outside and when the robber went to leave the store, he tripped him.Cornell also fell to the ground and the storeowner, Edson Andrade, ran outside and confronted the robber who was subdued by the two men until police arrived.Police responding to the scene found Andrade and Cornell on top of the robber.The gun turned out to be an air-pellet gun, according to reports.Andrade, 36, a father of two, lives in Saugus.The indictments handed up Wednesday move the case from Salem District Court, where Homen has pleaded innocent, to Salem Superior Court, where he will be re-arraigned within a few weeks. He remains held without bail.Assistant District Attorney Greg A. Friedholm is prosecuting the case for the state.Indictments are not an indication of guilt, rather a legal process that allows a case to be transferred from District Court to Superior Court allowing for a more severe punishment.