Facebook image helps PIPD nab Subway robber
Mark Mullen
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
PRESQUE ISLE – The lone suspect who wielded a knife and robbed the local Subway restaurant last Monday night was arrested Wednesday morning without incident at a bus stop in Mars Hill.
Mark Mullen, 25, originally from Presque Isle, was apprehended at 8 a.m. by Presque Isle Police Chief Naldo Gagnon, Det. Bill Scull and Deputy Ross McQuade of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department.
“We let him get on the bus because we knew he couldn’t exit without going through us,” said Gagnon. “He gave right up.”
Mullen allegedly entered the Presque Isle Subway at 11:40 p.m. June 28 wearing a black mask, black shirt and black jeans. According to reports, brandishing a large kitchen-type knife, he told the two employees that he was there to rob them.
Police believe Mullen locked the employees in a walk-in cooler and then fled on foot after stealing more than $500. The employees – who were not injured – managed to break out of the cooler and call the police, who arrived on the scene at 11:53 p.m.
The PIPD’s bloodhound, Hunter, and his handler, Officer Kevin Schumacher, responded and tracked the suspect to the grocery side front end of Walmart.
“Hunter really hit at the garbage can which is where Officer Larry Fickett found a black shirt, mask and latex gloves wrapped in a garbage can,” Gagnon said, noting that the knife has not been recovered. “Knowing that they have surveillance video, we got their store detective, Ryan Doughty, to help us out as far as getting the still shots and video.
“Once we put it on Facebook and WAGM-TV, there were people who saw it or watched it and started calling us,” he said. “We had two other names that were given that were close, but once we got Mark Mullen’s information, everything came together.”
Gagnon said a very distinctive tattoo on Mullen’s right forearm that was noticeable on the surveillance video was useful in helping identify the suspect.
Once Mullen left Walmart, he reportedly took a taxicab to Mars Hill.
“Sgt. Brian Harris of the Maine State Police saw the cab and signaled for the driver to pull over,” said Gagnon. “The driver said he gave a guy a ride from Walmart to a non-specific place in Mars Hill. The passenger told him, ‘Just drop me off here.’
“We got probably six phone calls saying it was Mark Mullen and they suspected that he was going to get on a bus,” he said. “That’s why we went to the bus stop.”
Mullen was unable to post bail and remains at the Aroostook County Jail. He is being charged with robbery, a Class A felony. Gagnon said Mullen has a prior robbery conviction.
“He was involved in a robbery at Chuck’s Market in Presque Isle several years ago,” he said.
