By SANDY McGEE

MENDON — Federal agents arrested a Mendon man on Thursday in connection with a string of recent robberies that occurred throughout Rhode Island, including an armed robbery at the CVS Pharmacy on Park Avenue, Woonsocket, and another at a bank in Lincoln.

A heavily armed FBI Special Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) team arrested David R. Cahill, 31, at his Hartford Avenue residence on Thursday, according to a statement released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Rhode Island district. The arrest was the result of an investigation by several law enforcement agencies into a series of robberies that occurred at a bank in Lincoln and at several pharmacies throughout Rhode Island.
U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente and Warren T. Bamford, special agent in charge for the FBI, announced that a federal complaint was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Providence, charging Cahill with bank robbery and robbery affecting interstate commerce.
In June, a man later identified as Cahill, wearing a floppy-brimmed hat, sunglasses and a latex glove on one hand, allegedly went into the Bank of America branch on George Washington Highway in Lincoln, according to the affidavit. The man gave the bank teller a note claiming he had a gun and demanded money. He later fled the bank with $2,361 in cash.
Also in June, according to the affidavit, a man later identified as Cahill allegedly went into the Brooks Pharmacy on Mineral Spring Avenue, North Providence. Brandishing a handgun, he apparently climbed over the door into the pharmacy area, ordered an employee to unlock a cabinet containing controlled substances and took about seven bottles of Oxycodone pills, according to the affidavit.
Similar armed robberies of Oxycodone subsequently occurred twice at a CVS Pharmacy on Park Avenue, Woonsocket, and twice at a CVS on Reservoir Avenue, Cranston.
After the most recent robbery, on Feb. 12 at the CVS on Reservoir Avenue, a Cranston police officer pursued the robber in his apparent getaway vehicle, a blue SUV. The robber eluded capture as the pursuit reached high speeds on Cranston streets.
When shown an array of photos earlier this month, a Bank of America teller and employees at various pharmacies identified Cahill as the robber, according to the affidavit. The Cranston officer, who pursued the robber in February, also identified Cahill as the driver of the getaway vehicle, according to the affidavit.
Cahill appeared before Magistrate Judge David L. Martin in U.S. District Court, Providence, on Thursday afternoon. The complaint charges Cahill with bank robbery and robbery affecting interstate commerce.
Cahill did not enter a plea at this time. Martin ordered Cahill detained pending a hearing to be held on Monday, April 28.
The charges are felonies and, therefore, subject to review by a federal grand jury. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zechariah Chafee will serve as prosecutor for the case.
The following agencies investigated the various robberies: the FBI; Woonsocket, Cranston, North Providence, Lincoln and Warwick police; Rhode Island State Police; Massachusetts State Police; Bellingham, Mendon and Bourne, Mass., police; and Groton, Conn., police.