A man whom police accused of robbing a Bangor Savings Bank in Brewer last December pleaded guilty to charges in that case and a slew of others in Penobscot County court on Friday morning.
Timothy Larrabee, 51, appeared via video link from Penobscot County Jail, where he has been since December, to plead guilty to charges in seven cases in exchange for an agreement to serve five years in prison.
Superior Court Justice Ann Murray also ordered him to pay a series of fines by Sept. 30, 2026, the maximum of which is $1,000.
Police arrested Larrabee last December after he robbed the Bangor Savings Bank on Wilson Street in Brewer and fled to the nearby Vacationland Inns.
Larrabee entered the bank the afternoon of Dec. 7, 2021, and slipped a note to a teller saying that he had a gun and was demanding all of the money in the teller’s cash register, Assistant District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said.
Larrabee fled with about $1,400 and was arrested a short time after in the hotel parking lot. The arresting officer, an FBI agent, found the money and an additional $20 that didn’t come from the bank in his pocket, Almy said.
Larrabee admitted at the Friday hearing that he did not have a gun in that case, and pleaded guilty to class B robbery, class C theft and class E violation of condition of release.
He also faced a series of other outstanding charges including aggravated forgery, trafficking and possession of illegal drugs, driving after revocation of license, violating conditions of release, eluding arrest and criminal speeding in connection to cases that were brought against him in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
He faced at least five charges stemming from an April 2021 incident in which he led Bangor police on a high-speed chase throughout the city and into Brewer after an officer tried to stop his silver Chevy Malibu sedan for driving over 50 mph on State Street, Almy said.
Larrabee ran several red lights and ultimately crashed into a concrete barrier in the parking lot of Northern Light Acadia Hospital in Bangor, after which he exited the car and ran screaming into the hospital, wielding a hatchet and making suicidal statements, Almy said.
He was then taken to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he admitted to having taken drugs earlier that day.
Larrabee suffered from substance use disorder, which played a large role in each case, Almy said.
Larrabee said that he had never had a driver’s license and that he also suffered from mental health challenges.
He had hoped for less jail time but agreed with Murray that the plea agreement his attorney, Kaylee Folster of Bangor, had secured was more favorable than if he had gone to trial in each case and a jury found him guilty.
Folster declined to comment.
Almy pointed out that the pandemic, substance use disorder and the court’s inability to hear jury cases in a timely manner allowed Larrabee to continue accumulating charges while he was out on bail.
“His case really demonstrates the agony and harm that addiction is causing to our communities, because these crimes were committed out of a need for money to buy drugs,” Almy said after the hearing.
“It’s a significant problem, and we’ve got lots of cases like that.”
Larrabee faced up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine on the Class B robbery charge, up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine on the Class C theft charge and up to six months behind bars and a $1,000 fine on the Class E violation of conditions of release charge.