Bank Employees Help Nab Robbery Suspects

Bank employees in Farmington helped police nab two people accused of trying to rob customers at an ATM, partly because one had a motorcycle helmet, but no bike.

An employee of the Webster Bank branch at 2 High St. called 911 around noon on Friday after noticing two men in a truck in the parking lot.

One of the men was wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet, but there was no motorcycle in the parking lot, and bank employees were afraid they were about to be robbed, police said.

The employees told police the man in the helmet walked up to the ATM, went back to the truck and two men left the lot, then came back.

When police questioned the men as they tried to leave the bank lot, the men gave conflicting stories, police said.

Police said Robert Alverson, 46, of Brookfield, Ohio, had an illegal switchblade knife and John Filipetti, 52, of Bristol, had heroin paraphernalia. They took both men into custody.

Police said Filipetti had been wearing the helmet and had a ski mask on underneath it.

ATM video shows him approach the ATM while a customer withdraws money and approach the ATM on another occasion as well, police said.

Alverson and Filipetti both later confessed to police that they had gone to the bank to rob a customer at the ATM, but Flipetti chose not to rob the customer because it was only a $20 withdrawal.

Filipetti posted a $50,000 bond. Alverson is being held on a $50,000 bond.

Alverson was charged with breach of peace, two counts of second-degree robbery and weapons in a motor vehicle.

Filipetti was charged with second-degree breach of peace, criminal mischief, drug paraphernalia and robbery. He plea-bargained a negligent homicide with a motor vehicle case in Bristol in 2006 after he drove off the road and ran over an 85-year-old woman.

Police urge ATM users to be aware of their surroundings before they get out of their cars.
 

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