'Merrimack Valley Bandit' Indicted for Armed Robbery

A Salem man was indicted this week on charges that he robbed a bank in Massachusetts back in February.

Rafael Beamud Jr., 32, was indicted Thursday for armed robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of his crime. On Feb. 21, it is alleged that Beamud walked into a TD Bank branch in Methuen, MA and approached the teller while holding a firearm. He threw plastic bags onto the counter and ordered the teller to empty the cash drawers and to "make sure there's no dye pack." He told the teller not to trip the alarm or he would shoot. The teller placed the money from the drawers into one of the bags, and Beamud left the bank, leaving one of the bags behind. The bag was processed for fingerprints, which led to Beamud's identification. He was arrested last spring.

If convicted on the armed robbery charge, Beamud faces up to 25 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. On the charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of the crime, he faces a mandatory minimum term of seven years in prison and a maximum term of live in prison, five years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Beamud, dubbed the "Merrimack Valley Bandit," is also believed to have robbed several other banks and a convenience store in the Merrimack Valley, southern New Hampshire and Maine. He is also a suspect in a 2012 arson in which his own home in Salem burned to the ground.

His father, Rafael Beamud, is a retired Cambridge Police detective who owns a nightclub in Lawrence, MA.