Man charged with holding up banks at gunpoint in Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park and Weymouth last month

A Chelsea man was arrested today on charges he held up Rockland Trust branches on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain and Truman Parkway in Hyde Park last month, as well as a bank in Weymouth.

Keywan Kelly, 29, was scheduled for his initial appearance in US District Court in Boston to answer to three counts of armed bank robbery, according to court records unsealed today.

According to an affidavit by a Massachusetts state trooper on the case, Kelly walked into the Rockland Trust branch at 515 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain around 1:40 p.m. on July 16, shoved his way between two people in line and handed a teller a note demanding $20,000 and threatening to kill everybody - except the teller was busy with an actual customer and did not initially read the note:

The robber then verbally demanded that VICTIM 2 [the teller] "take care of [him] now," and pulled up his clothing to display a firearm. The robber then pulled the firearm from his waistband and verbally demanded money. VICTIM 2 described the firearm as black on top and silver/gray on the bottom. VICTIM 2 then handed the robber cash totaling approximately $2,480. The robber asked VICTIM 2 to return the demand note, and VICTIM 2 told the robber that she did. The robber fled the bank on foot.

VICTIM 2 reported that after the robber left the bank, she realized that she still had the demand note. Investigators obtained the note and I have reviewed it. The note, written with pen on lined notepad paper, read: "I need 20K no DyPacks I have 4 bombs I'll Kill everyone make quick."

He then fled and got into a rented red Volkswagen Taos and drove away.

Around 10:15 a.m. on July 26, the affidavit continues, Kelly robbed the Rockland Trust branch at 1065 Truman Parkway in Hyde Park in pretty much the same manner: He pulled up in a rented car - this time an older BMW 328i on which he had attached plates from another vehicle - presented a note, pulled out a gun, threatened to kill the teller and demanded $20,000. She gave him $3,000, which seemed to satisfy him since he then ran out and drove away.

He used the same MO to rob a Bank of America branch in Weymouth on July 1, the affidavit states, adding that victim descriptions from the three locations all matched, he left fingerprints on at least one of the vehicles and police investigating him spotted the car used in the Hyde Park robbery parked outside his mother's house in Brockton. Also, the car used in the Jamaica Plain robbery was rented by another person "with whom KELLY made or attempted contact nearly 100 times on the day of the robbery." And records from his cell carrier showed his phone had been switched off right before the times of the three robberies.

Each count of armed bank robbery carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Innocent, etc.

Complete affidavit (1.1M PDF).