Bank Robbery Suspect's Probable Cause Hearing Continued

The probable cause hearing for a Portsmouth man charged with robbing the People's United Bank twice was continued this morning in Portsmouth District Court.

Timothy Burke, 29 of 55 Columbia Street, Apt. 3. in Portsmouth, was scheduled to appear in court this morning after he was arraigned on two counts of armed robbery on Nov. 17.

He is currently being held at the Rockingham County Jail in Brentwood and court officials said this morning a new date for the hearing has not been set yet.

According to the affidavit filed by Portsmouth Police Det. Sgt. David Keaveny, Burkey allegedly robbed $2,280 when he robbed the bank on Oct. 29 and then robbed another $3,260 when he returned to the same bank on Nov. 4.

Police developed Burke as their prime suspect based on the video surveillance taken of him at the bank and learned he lived practically right across the street from the bank on Columbia Street behind the Bread Box restaurant.

A family member also contacted Police and said they felt Burke was the person in the surveillance photos published by the media. When police executed a search warrant, they found a pair of aviator sunglasses, a black knit North Face hat, gray sweatpants and a red-zip jacket worn at the time of the second bank robbery.

Police said Burke boarded a C&J Trailways bus at the Pease Transportation Center after he robbed the bank a second time on Nov. 4 and went to Las Vegas where he gambled away a portion of the more than $6,000 he allegedly stole. After Burke became aware that he had been identified as the prime suspect in the bank robberies, Portsmouth Police Capt. Corey MacDonald, chief of the detectives division, said Burke traveled back to Portsmouth and turned himself in to police on Nov. 16.

He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail by Portsmouth District Court Judge Sawato Gardner during his arraignment on Nov. 17.