Homeless Man In Concord Arrested On Robbery Charge: Follow-Up

CONCORD, NH — Concord police have made an arrest in the attempted robbery incident at Cumberland Farms on North Main Street.

Jonathan Taylor Gagne, 22, a homeless man now located in Concord, was arrested this week on a felony attempted robbery charge.

Around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, police were sent to the store for a report of a man demanding money and attempting to rob the store. The clerk told dispatch the man had left but was pacing outside.

When the reporting officer arrived, the suspect had left the area. The officer spoke to the clerk who stated the white man had no shoes on and was wearing a yellow Bruins hat pulled down over his face with cutout eyeholes. The clerk said the guy had been “creeping around the store,” with his hands in his pockets, and then said, “this is a robbery; give me all the money.” The clerk said she did not have any money, and the suspect left. The clerk said he did not show a weapon, and she did not see any weapons.

While the reporting officer waited for a store supervisor to arrive, so they could inspect video footage security cameras, other officers began searching the city for potential suspects.

During their canvassing, officers requested homeless campers under the Loudon Road bridge off Storrs Street to come out to speak with them. One camper, known as Gagne, “based on his numerous contacts with the officer,” took about 30 seconds to get out of his tent to speak with officers, a report said. When questioned about his whereabouts, Gagne said he was under the Interstate 393 bridge earlier to get a sweatshirt but denied being at Cumbies, an affidavit said. The officer wrote down a clothing description of Gagne.

Another homeless camper refused to leave his tent for questioning. But a woman sitting in the tent to the left of Gagne reported he had returned to his tent “about a minute or two before” police arrived. When asked if Gagne said anything to the other camper in his tent, she said he had, accusing him of talking about just coming back from Cumberland Farms, but she did not have an exact wording of what was said, the affidavit noted. A man who was in the tent with the woman denied hearing anything that was said but accused Gagne of wearing “some type of ‘yellow winter hat’ when he returned to the tent,” the report said.

After the supervisor arrived at Cumbies, the reporting officer eyed video footage and confirmed the clerk’s accusation that the suspect was kind of skulking around — the suspect walked into the store at 10:20 p.m. and walked in and out two times before approaching the clerk, the officer wrote. The suspect approached the clerk, they had a short conversation, and then the suspect left, according to the video.

The officer wrote down all of the clothing descriptors, including a marking on the lower right pantleg, and noted the “hunched back” posture and “very unique shuffle” of the suspect. The supervisor said it looked like a regular customer named John, but they did not know the man’s last name.

Police, at this point, suspected Gagne was the person who attempted to rob the store and went back to the tent to speak to him, the report said. Other homeless campers were questioned, with one accusing Gagne of “joking” with the man in his tent that he robbed the store, an affidavit said.

The officers questioned Gagne again. He was patted down for weapons and he again denied being at the store, the report said. When asked to explain the timeline of when he was under the I-393 bridge earlier, the reporting officer accused him of shifting the time. The officer said he “walked with a sort of waddle and had very hunched shoulders” while speaking with him, adding, “Gagne’s posture and walk were strikingly similar to that of my suspect.”

Officers then spoke to the man in the tent who refused to come out earlier and said he seemed “agitated” and denied being at the store. He reported living in the tent for about a month and denied Gagne lived with him or spent much time with him in the tent, the report said. He also said his tent belonged to the woman and man in the nearby tent.

Officers requested the man to remove all the items inside his tent in an effort to find the Bruins hat and a shirt matching the clothing descriptors in the store, and the camper removed all of his items. He refused to go through the part of the tent where Gagne had been sleeping and refused to sign a consent search form, the affidavit said. The camper told the officer it was not his tent and he could not sign the consent form.

The reporting officer noted there were still some items in the tent, and the man and woman in the other tent denied the assertion the tent was theirs.

Later, a sergeant spoke with Gagne about his timeline, and he was accused of changing it again. The report said he denied being at the store, saying he did not have money for snacks. However, Gagne “eventually admitted” to the sergeant that he “only robbed Cumby’s ‘one time’ that night,” stealing a king-sized Reese’s around 7 p.m., the affidavit said.

A search warrant was requested for the tent, and Gagne and the other man left the area, the report said.

When the reporting officer returned to the store later to collect a statement, they accused Gagne of returning, too.

“I told Gagne to exit the store and not return,” the officer wrote while verbally trespassing him from the store.

The officer then requested the supervisor present security footage of the suspect and Gagne returning to the store. The supervisor noted Gagne was “John,” the regular he referred to previously, citing his “gait, mannerisms, and hunch.” The reporting officer also said Gagne was wearing the same pants as the suspect with lettering on the pant leg “clearly” seen, an affidavit said.

During a search of the tent, the Bruins cap and the jacket the suspect wore were found inside, the affidavit stated, and a warrant was issued for Gagne’s arrest. He was arraigned on robbery and theft charges in Merrimack County Superior Court on Tuesday.

According to posts on Patch, Gagne has been arrested close to a dozen times since 2020 including assault, domestic violence, theft, unlawful possession, intoxication, and trespass charges, as well as warrants.

In a case out of Rochester in April 2021, second-degree assault, criminal threatening, and criminal mischief charges were all nolle prossed in Strafford County Superior Court in November 2021.

A video of the incident was posted on Facebook by NEWS 603.

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