VERGENNES  — Vergennes police on Saturday arrested an Addison man who they say robbed two Vergennes financial institutions — the first on Friday, March 13, and the second just this past Friday.
Police arrested Ricky D. Putnam, 44, and cited him for two counts of robbery — of the Peoples United Bank at the corner of Main and Maple streets on the 13th and of the Vermont Federal Credit Union at 100 Panton Road on the UTC Aerospace facility on the 27th.
Money from the robbery of the credit union was recovered from Putnam’s vehicle, police said.
At approximately 4:28 p.m. on Friday a man in a hooded sweatshirt entered the Vermont Federal Credit Union at United Technologies Corp. (formerly Goodrich Corp.) and demanded cash. He was described as a white man, about 5 foot, 6 inches tall, medium to stocky build, wearing sunglasses, a black or blue neck gaiter, blue or purple gloves, blue jeans, tan shoes (initially believed by police to be Merrell-brand shoes), a baseball cap and a gray, zipped and hooded sweatshirt with a print on the front that in surveillance images appeared be a date: 197?.
The man exited the building with money and drove away in a gray, four-door sedan, possibly a Toyota, with an unknown Vermont registration, and headed south on Panton Road toward West Main Street.
Vergennes and state police responded to the report of the robbery and set up checkpoints to examine cars in the city.
It was the second Friday afternoon robbery of a Vergennes financial institution this month. On March 13 at about 2:20 p.m. a man displayed a knife to a teller at the People’s United Bank on Main Street in Vergennes and demanded cash. The teller complied and the man left the bank and fled north.
Vergennes Police Chief George Merkel did not say how authorities got a break in the case, but he credited Vermont State Police and Addison County Sheriff’s Department officers for help in the investigation.