Police: Unarmed Walmart Robbery Suspect Wanted Money To Buy Drugs

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Tewksbury Police arrested Dylan Brodeur, 25, of Nashua, N.H. on charges stemming from an unarmed robbery. But before he was arrested Saturday afternoon, his crime sparked a four-hour search that included a Police K-9 Unit and a State Police helicopter. When those searches turned up empty, police were able to arrest Brodeur when a resident tipped them off that he was hiding out in a nearby Dunkin Donuts.

Police say Brodeur allegedly found a cash receipt for lawn furniture in the parking lot. At approximately 11 am he entered the store and found matching furniture in the store and tried to return it using the receipt. When he was confronted by the store's loss prevention workers, he fled the store and was seen running into the woods behind the RTN Credit Union building on Main Street.

Several hour later, at about 3 pm, police received a tip that Brodeur was in a Dunkin Donuts on Main Street in Tewksbury. Police learned that he had an outstanding warrant from Ayer District Court for vandalism to property and that he had planned to use the money from the phony return to buy drugs in Lawrence.

Tewksbury residents received a message at 12:24 pm Saturday through the town's CodeRED alert warning them to avoid the area of Pike and Astle Streets as police looked for Brodeur. In those alerts, he was described as white male in a gray hooded sweatshirt with a cut on his nose.

Another message sent a few hours later informed residents that the suspect had been apprehended. That message was sent out at approximately 4:45 pm.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).