Two Northampton teens held in Easthampton armed robbery; two more sought

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Two Northampton teens were ordered held without bail Tuesday and two others remain at large for their alleged involvement in an armed robbery at a Pleasant Street rooming house Monday evening.

David M. Malley, 19, of 942 Bridge Road, Northampton, and Pedro J. Baez, 19, of 73 Barrett St., unit 6203, Northampton, pleaded innocent in Eastern Hampshire District Court Tuesday to charges of home invasion and larceny over $250. Malley pleaded innocent to additional charges of possessing a firearm without an FID card, improperly storing a firearm and two counts of receiving stolen property valued below $250.

At 5:25 p.m. Monday, four Easthampton police officers were dispatched to 145 Pleasant St., for a report that a man had been robbed at gunpoint by three men while sitting in his apartment with friends, according to police.

The victim reportedly told police that, while in his apartment, he and three friends heard someone knocking on the door of an apartment above them. One of his friends, the victim reported, went upstairs and told three men there that the tenant of that apartment wasn't home.

They followed him back downstairs.

Shortly after his friend re-entered the apartment, the victim told police the three men barged in and brandished two handguns; one was pointed at his friend's back and the other was pushed into the victim's groin.

As the four were held at gunpoint, one of the intruders stole several items off of a table inside the apartment, including an iPod, a PlayStation portable and $80 in cash before the trio fled toward the park area of Pleasant Green, according to court documents.

One of the victims told police she recognized one of the men as "Pedro" and knew that he lived at Hampshire Heights in Northampton.

After running the name through their system, police received word that Pedro J. Baez had been seen at an autobody shop on Easthampton Road in Northampton, and that he and David M. Malley were heading to the latter's apartment on Bridge Road.

After staking out the location, officers found Malley and another man in a black Chevrolet Beretta sitting in the driveway at Malley's house. Police also saw an iPod matching a description of the one stolen sitting in the front seat, which both men reportedly denied owning.

After agreeing to come to the station for an interview, Malley told police that he picked up Baez and two unidentified men after Baez offered him $10 for a ride. Malley told police he then brought them to a house in Easthampton and after a brief time, the three came running out of the building to his car. Malley drove the three men back to the autobody shop, and two of the men left his car and got into an orange sports car, police said; Malley and Baez then went back to Bridge Road. These other two men are still sought by police.

When police interviewed Malley's mother, Deborah Davis, she reportedly told police that Malley had asked her earlier in the afternoon if he could borrow her two replica pistols, and she said she gave them to him and "didn't think anything of it," according to court documents.

Once in custody at Northampton Police Station on charges of home invasion, Baez reportedly used a friend's cell phone to contact Malley, and the call was traced to a cell phone tower in Goshen. Malley told police the number belonged to a friend of his who lived on 4 Highland Road in Goshen. Baez was later found in an upstairs bedroom at that address and was arrested for his alleged involvement in the home invasion and on unrelated warrants, according to police.

At 6:47 a.m. Tuesday morning, police executed a search warrant of Malley's home and found a .380 Russian-made semi-automatic pistol, with seven live rounds in the magazine, hidden under his mattress, according to court documents. The search also revealed two black semi-automatic replica pistols and the PlayStation stolen from the victim's apartment, police said.

Judge Richard J. Carey ordered the two men held without bail until their pretrial hearing on Friday.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.