MATTHEW A. CYR
WESTFIELD – Three defendants accused of a 2013 armed robbery at the Stop & Go convenience store on Mill Street have had their day in court and all three are now in jail.
Matthew A. Cyr, 30, of 44 River St., Agawam, Scott A. Peabody, 27, of 108 Lawton St., Springfield, and Timothy J. Lynch, 20, of 88 Harby Road, West Springfield, were taken into custody Dec. 15, 2013, while driving out of the city after they allegedly robbed the store at gunpoint.
A fourth person in the car was initially arrested but charges were later dropped. Investigators said at the time that they came to believe that he had not known of the planned robbery and thought that his companions were going to buy marijuana.
TIMOTHY J. LYNCH
Police reported that Lynch had first entered the store alone to determine if any customers were present and, when he reported to his companions that the clerk was alone, Peabody and Cyr went in to rob the store.
While one of the suspects reportedly stayed near the door, the other, wearing a hooded sweatshirt backwards with eye holes cut in the hood, menaced the clerk with what was later found to be a BB gun. The two men then fled with about $100 in cash and several packs of cigarettes, police reported.
The crime was reported promptly and a witness described the car in which the suspects fled. Within minutes, Officer Joseph Maxton spotted the car speeding and swerving on East Main Street.
Although the car did not initially stop, the operator soon stopped on the Air National Guard Bridge and the front seat passenger, Cyr, jumped out of the vehicle and vaulted the bridge railing.
Cry waded and swum across the river but soon found himself under the gun of Officer Steven Nacewicz in a nearby cornfield.
All four of the occupants in the car were arrested and charged with armed and masked robbery and conspiracy. Peabody, the operator of the car, was also charged with motor vehicle violations and Cyr was also charged with resisting arrest.
A handgun found in the car was determined to be a BB gun and a sweatshirt with holes in the hood was also recovered.
SCOTT A. PEABODY
At Westfield District Court, the lawyer for fourth suspect, the youngest of the quartet, said that his client was unaware of the plans to rob the store and “was sleeping in the back of the car.”
Lynch’s attorney argued that his client, who he said had never been in trouble with the law before, had been duped by Cyr into checking out the store before the actual robbery.
Although charges against the fourth suspect were not pursued, the other three defendants were subsequently indicted and arraigned in Hampden Superior Court.
There, Cyr and Peabody ultimately pleaded guilty to charges of robbery while armed and masked and conspiracy. Lynch pleaded guilty to armed robbery and conspiracy
The motor vehicle charges against Peabody were not prosecuted and when he appeared before Judge Tina S. Page on Jan. 15 he was sentenced to a 5-6 year term in state prison on the robbery charge. On the conspiracy charge, he was sentenced to three years probation after his release from prison. He was given credit for 731 days he serve while awaiting trial.
Cyr and Lynch appeared for sentencing before different judges on Jan. 22.
Cyr was sentenced by Judge Richard Carey to a 10 years to ten years-and-a-day term on the robbery charge. The one day option on the sentence means that he will have to serve a minimum of ten years in state prison. When he is released, Cyr will be placed on probation for three years. He was credited with 404 days served while awaiting trial.
Lynch appeared before Judge Constance Sweeney and was sentenced to a two and a half year term in the house of correction on the conspiracy charge. When he is released, Lynch will be on probation for five years as a consequence of the robbery charge.
