A monthslong series of armed robberies has come to an end in Malden, Massachusetts, officials said, with the arrest of a woman and man Wednesday night.
Marie McCallum of Malden hid from the camera in court Thursday as she was arraigned on a charge of attempted armed robbery. George Johnson, also from Malden, is expected to face a judge Friday.
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"Our primary focus was on the end result, was to stop it before it increases and someone gets hurt," Malden Police Lt. Michael Powell said.
McCallum and Johnson targeted small shops, mostly convenience stores, by casing them out, prosecutors said. Johnson would allegedly enter the store wearing a mask and brandishing a knife and demanding money.
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He told the owner of the L&M convenience store, "I'm not going to kill you if you give me the money," according to court documents.
As the robberies progressed, police put together a task force that included the FBI and Massachusetts State Police to deal with it.
Powell says the thought was, "Let's regroup. Let's reorganize. Let's put a focused task force together so we can effectively deal with the situation."
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The situation that culminated Wednesday, when officers followed McCallum and Powell, arresting the man as he approached the N&B Market without incident. McCallum was also arrested at the scene.
"Our feeling was that, if we did not put a stop to this soon, that the behavior was going to increase and become more and more aggressive based upon the pattern that we were seeing throughout the course of the investigation," Powell said.
While, McCallum was arraigned Thursday morning Johnson was taken to a hospital for a condition unrelated to his arrest. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak to the charge.
