Defense lawyer Alan Rubin told Judge Mary Lou Rup that Gilkes' family came up with the bail money and gave it to her boyfriend to bring to court. Instead, Rubin said, the boyfriend went to North Carolina and telephoned the family to say that he had been robbed.
Sharroya R. Gilkes
NORTHAMPTON - A Hampshire Superior Court judge refused to lower the bail Thursday for a woman accused of robbing a South Hadley bank in 2008 while wearing a nylon stocking over her face.
Sharroya R. Gilkes, 23, of 83 Highland Avenue, Ludlow, pleaded innocent at her Thursday arraignment to armed robbery while masked. According to prosecutors, Gilkes robbed the PeoplesBank in South Hadley on Dec. 3, 2008, demanding money and warning the teller she would die if she refused. Gilkes kept moving her hand underneath her sweatshirt as if she had a gun, prosecutors said. The teller gave her cash and she fled.
Northwestern First Assistant Attorney Stephen Gagne said Gillkes discarded the stocking and some other clothing after leaving the bank. Police discovered the stocking, analyzed it at the state police crime laboratory, and matched the DNA on it to Gilkes', Gagne said. Gagne noted that Gilkes' cousin was a teller at the bank at the time of the robbery.
Gilkes was previously arraigned in District Court, where her bail was set at $10,000 cash. However, a Hampshire Superior Court judge lowered it to $5,000 at a bail hearing. Defense lawyer Alan Rubin told Judge Mary Lou Rup that Gilkes' family came up with the bail money and gave it to her boyfriend to bring to court. Instead, Rubin said, the boyfriend went to North Carolina and telephoned the family to say that he had been robbed.
"It's gone, and it's a poor family," Rubin said, asking Rup to release his client on her own recognizance.
Rup declined, keeping Gilkes' bail at $5,000. She scheduled a pretrial hearing for March 19.