Greenfield Woman Accused Of Assisting With Nashua Hotel Robbery

NASHUA, NH — Police in Nashua have made one of two arrests connected to a hotel robbery in mid-February.

Around 3 a.m. on Feb. 17, police were sent to the Double Tree by Hilton on Somerset Parkway to investigate a robbery. A man showed a note to an employee demanding money if they did not want to get hurt, police said. The employee opened the register, handed the suspect about $800, and then the suspect left the area.

During questioning about the robbery, an officer noticed there were wet shoe prints on a floor mat near the register and asked the employee if they were of the suspect. The employee said they were. Pictures were then taken of the prints.

Later, officers learned Melody Haggerty, 29, of Colonial Drive in Greenfield, had been fired recently from the hotel. A management employee accused her of having knowledge of the front desk operations.

Detectives gathered surveillance video from the area and determined the suspect, who had a skinny build and was wearing dark clothing, dark sneakers, and a ski mask, was seen on Southwood Drive and was picked up in a truck near Somerset Parkway. During a search for information on Haggerty, Elias Dawley, 28, also of Greenfield, was found to be her boyfriend and wrote on Facebook that he had a new pickup truck. A check of the NH DMV found no vehicles registered in his name, the detective wrote in an affidavit.

On Feb. 21, in an unrelated matter, officers made contact with both Haggerty and Dawley at Lillian’s Motel on Concord Street after they were wanted on electronic bench warrants. During that arrest process, an officer learned the pair had removed their belongings from the motel to a silver Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with temporary plates.

Detectives interviewed Haggerty and accused her of admitting to driving the pickup truck on Feb. 17.

“Melody denied any knowledge of a robbery but admitted to dropping Elias off across the street from the Double Tree, believing he was going to the location to purchase drugs with another unknown Black male,” the detective wrote. “Melody reported Elias later called her and asked her to pick him up in the same area.”

Detectives also spoke to Dawley, who declined to provide a statement. The detective noted in the report Dawley’s “body frame and stature” closely resembled that of the robbery suspect.

The next day, detectives applied for a search warrant to look at items in the truck and found a size 11 pair of black Nike Air Max sneakers. The tread design of the sneakers matched the footprints on the hotel mat taken after the robbery, according to the affidavit.

Arrest warrants were issued for Dawley, on a felony robbery charge, as well as Haggerty for felony criminal liability for the conduct of another-robbery.

Haggerty was arrested on Tuesday and declined to speak without an attorney, the detective wrote. Dawley remains at large.

Haggerty was held on $2,500 cash bail and was arraigned in Hillsborough Superior Court South Wednesday. She was released on personal recognizance bail and is due back in court for a dispositional conference on Sept. 14. Haggerty faces seven years in prison and fines if convicted.

Dawley, according to superior court records, is a felon due to a possession of controlled-narcotic drug conviction out of Manchester from May 2012.

In Chesterfield, in September 2013, he was accused of robbery. The charge was filed against him in November 2017. He pleaded guilty in May 2018 and was given a 12-month prison sentence.

In June 2014, he was accused of multiple counts of felonious sexual assault and second-degree assault as well as an interference with custody charge in Greenfield.

In December 2014, Dawley was accused of robbery, first-degree assault, criminal threatening, felon in possession, and breach of bail after an incident in Greenfield.

Dawley pleaded guilty in September 2015 to the assault and interference charges while the sexual assault charges were dropped. He also pleaded guilty to the robbery, possession, and breach charges in the second case. He received a 12-month prison sentence for all the charges.

In November 2020, the Middlesex County Attorney requested documents from his cases but no reason was given why.

The Nashua Police Department is asking anyone with more information about this incident to contact the Crime Line at 603-589-1665.

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