CVS Robbery Suspect Apprehended

A 42-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbing the CVS Pharmacy on Bank Street after the New London Police Department determined that he matched an individual in eyewitness accounts and video surveillance footage.

Deputy Chief Peter Reichard said Pedro Madera Jr., last address unknown, was charged with third-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny. He is being held on a $150,000 bond pending an appearance before the G.A. 10 Court.

The robbery was reported at 7:26 p.m. on Sunday. A man gave a clerk a note reading, "Empty [your] drawer, just bills, no noise." Witnesses said he had one hand in his sweatshirt pocket as if concealing a weapon. No one was injured and the man left the scene after receiving the money. The amount of cash has not been disclosed, but the charge stipulates that it is less than $250.

Reichard said officers stopped Madera in the vicinity of the store after noting that his physical features and clothing matched the description of the suspect. While he was being interviewed, police discovered that he was wanted on several outstanding warrants in Connecticut. Madera was detained on these charges and was linked to the robbery by positive eyewitness identification as well as security camera footage.

Madera was convicted in two sexual assault cases in the area in 2004, according to criminal records. He was sentenced to serve 54 months of a 10-year sentence with 10 years of probation on charges of second-degree sexual assault of a minor and illegal sexual contact in a case where he was accused of impregnating a 15-year-old girl. Madera was also convicted of third-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual assault of a minor in a separate case where he was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old Norwich girl.

Madera was convicted in a Waterbury of first-degree failure to appear in court in June. He was sentenced to serve four months of a two-year sentence in this case along with two years of probation.

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