LYNN — Police have linked a 46-year-old man arrested last week for robbing a convenience store at gunpoint to four other store robberies that were committed over the past five months.
Paul Pacheco, of Lynn, was arrested after he allegedly robbed Big Brother’s Food Mart shortly before 9 p.m. last Thursday and police tracked him to his Maple Street home, Lynn Police Lt. Michael Kmiec said.
Pacheco made off with about $60 in cash from the register, but he didn’t realize he was followed home by the victim. The 50-year-old male store clerk drove behind Pacheco, but lost him as he began running through backyards in the Maple Street area, Kmiec said.
Police found Pacheco after several residents in the area called about a suspicious man running through the residential properties. A subsequent investigation linked him to three other armed robberies committed at Big Brother’s Food Mart, which occurred on Sept. 18, Oct. 12, and Nov. 24, and a Nov. 24 robbery at Sunrise Market on Chatham Street, Kmiec said.
Pacheco was arrested last Thursday and charged with five counts of armed and masked robbery and attempting to commit a crime.
“It certainly puts a closure on those investigations and gets him off the street as well,” said Kmiec.
