Duo charged with holdups of Lynn Tedeschi store

LYNN – Lynn Police arrested two men they say committed three armed robberies of the Tedeschi Food Mart at 548 Summer St. earlier this month, after a stakeout they conducted led them to the suspects, according to police reports .Dale Knibbs and Brian Delaney, 34, both of 4 Houghton St., Lynn, were arraigned in Lynn District Court Monday in connection with the robberies after another robbery suspect identified the pair in surveillance video, an arrest report states.A judge ordered Delaney held on $150,000 bail on charges of two counts of armed robbery while masked, armed robbery and assault and battery. Knibbs was charged with two counts of armed robbery while masked, two counts of armed robbery, and two counts of assault and battery and held on $100,000 bail, according to court records.Video surveillance of the first robbery showed that, as the store clerk transferred cash from one register to another around 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 14, a tall white male, believed to be Delaney, entered the store, brandished a large knife and pointed it at the clerk, and then removed over $300 from the register as he continued to point the knife at him, according to an incident report filed last week. At the same time, a black male, believed to be Knibbs, grabbed a second clerk and brought him to the ground.The clerk told police he had seen Knibbs begging for money in the store before, the report said.Another police report said that on Jan. 16 at about 9:21 p.m. two men believed to be Delaney and Knibbs entered the same Tedeschi store on Summer Street and robbed it of cash, lottery tickets and Marlboro cigarettes, and two men identified in video to be the same suspects did so yet again on Jan. 18 at 11:38 p.m., again taking cash, lottery tickets and cigarettes.This time, the report said, clerks unlocked the door for a man who then entered and was followed by another man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. The report said the first man threw the clerk to the floor, then dragged him behind the counter and had him open the register.The arrests of the two men occurred after Detective Michael Kelter of the Lynn Police Special Investigation Unit and Sergeant Donald Kasle of the Patrol Division set up surveillance on the store on Jan. 19, a press release from Lt. Christopher Kelly said. The officers observed two men who appeared to be readying to rob the store and arrested them, but these men were not the ones who had robbed the store three times prior.During interviews with the suspects, one of the men positively identified Delaney and Knibbs as the men in the surveillance videos of at least two of the earlier robberies, and told police where they lived.Police arrested Delaney and Knibbs at their home on Friday at about 6:30 p.m. and charged them with participation in at least two of the previous robberies, the press release said.Both men were identified in photo arrays by the clerks present at the store during the robberies, according to a Jan. 19 police report.According to a police report, Lynn Police arrested Delaney on charges of shoplifting over $100 by asportation and possession of cocaine on Jan. 2, after he allegedly tried to steal two flat-screen TVs from Walmart on the Lynnway.The pair are being held at Essex House of Correction and are scheduled back in court on Feb. 14 for a probable cause hearing. Kelly said the incidents are still being investigated and more charges could arise.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].