2 Charged in Bank Robbery

Naugatuck police have arrested a Litchfield man and woman accused of diverting police to a fake abduction as they robbed a bank.

A man called Naugatuck police on Saturday afternoon and said a man with a gun was trying to grab a female on Ward Street in Naugatuck, then quickly hung up the phone, police said.

As patrol officers were responding, police received a report of a suspicious vehicle by Stop & Shop at the Mountview Plaza, at 727 Rubber Ave., and then a report of a bank robbery at People's United Bank inside the Stop & Shop.

Witnesses said a 5-foot-6-inch-tall woman wearing a red wig demanded money from a teller at 2:45 p.m. and left with the money in a silver Saturn with California plates, heading eastbound on Field Street.

A man wearing sunglasses was driving, police said.

Police broadcast the description and an officer who was off-duty saw a car and people inside matching the description operating erratically on Allerton Road.

The officer followed the car, saw it had Connecticut plates and contacted police so they could broadcast the description.

With help from state police, officers apprehended Joshua Habib, 25, and Brianna McCarthy, 22, in Litchfield as they pulled into a private residence.

Habib and McCarthy later confessed and led detectives to the location of the red wig and California plates, which they had discarded, police said.

Police said Habib was the person who called in the false abduction report as a diversion.

He was charged with third-degree conspiracy at robbery, third-degree conspiracy at larceny and first-degree falsely reporting an incident.

McCarthy was charged with third-degree robbery, third-degree conspiracy at robbery, third-degree larceny, third-degree conspiracy at larceny.

McCarthy and Habib were held on $150,000 bonds and scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Valentine’s Day at 9:30 a.m.

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