Three charged in home invasion

Armed robbery alleged in break-in
By Owen Boss and Stephen Hill
Staff Writers

SOUTH HADLEY — Three Springfield residents faced charges Thursday after an alleged armed home invasion and robbery at 104 Lyman St. in the wee hours that morning.

“We believe this particular house was chosen,” Police Chief David LaBrie said Thursday.

Two teenagers, an 18-year-old male resident and another boy, were the only people in the house and were sleeping when two men, armed with handguns, allegedly broke in through a sliding door.

Geremy Linsky, 20, of 225 Mount Holly Drive, Springfield, Jeremy Gervais, 20, of 36 Fredette St., Springfield and Tanya Nitri, 20, of 161 Hartford Terrace, Springfield, were all arrested on charges of home invasion, armed burglary, and larceny of property valued over $250. All three pleaded innocent to all charges Thursday in Eastern Hampshire District Court. Judge Laurie MacLeod ordered Linsky and Gervais held on $75,000 cash bail, and Nitri posted $3,000 cash bail, according to court documents.

The 18-year-old resident called 911 at 1:33 a.m. Thursday, to report that he and his friend had been robbed at gunpoint, South Hadley police stated in a press release. The teenagers said they had been awakened by two masked men, both armed with semi-automatic pistols, who broke into the home through a sliding glass door, threatened them and demanded money, police said.

After the teens told the intruders they had no money, the robbers loaded backpacks with video games, DVDs, cell phones and laptop computers, and then tied the teens’ hands, according to police.

After freeing themselves, they called police and were able to describe the intruders.
Holyoke police stopped a car about 2:30 a.m. for a moving violation and saw electronic devices later identified as coming from the Lyman Street house.

The guns allegedly used in the robbery have not yet been recovered, Labrie said. MacLeod scheduled all three suspects to appear in court Feb. 12 for a pretrial hearing.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com