State police pursue, arrest couple after bank robbery

Salisbury’s resident state trooper, Christopher Sorrell, was in his Town Hall office on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 15, when he got the alert that a robbery had just occurred at the Torrington Savings Bank branch in Falls Village at the intersection of routes 7 and 126.

The suspected robber and accomplice were traveling in a small red four-door car with Rhode Island license plates that had also been used during a robbery at the Great Barrington branch of Salisbury Bank and Trust on Monday, Feb. 13.

State troopers from the Troop B barracks in North Canaan immediately set out to look for the robbers. Sorrell did some strategic thinking and decided that the robbers were probably going to head out of Connecticut. Since they had just robbed a Massachusetts bank, it made sense that they would head for New York. 

He went out to his cruiser on Main Street and waited for the red 2014 Fiat 500 to appear — which it did, almost immediately. 

The car was being driven by Eric Sheridan, 36, of Danielson, Conn., a small town (population 4,051) in the northeast corner of the state.

With him was Rachelle Winter, 30, of Putnam, Conn., which is a town of about 9,500 people that is near Danielson.

Sorrell was on the other side of the road as the Fiat came toward him. He turned his car around to follow the Fiat and Sheridan immediately sped up and headed away from the center of Salisbury  in the direction of the New York border. The police estimate that his top speed on the narrow, winding road was 91 mph.

A fear they’d flee on foot

A police news release on the incident says that Sheridan “passed several vehicles in a no-passing zone, struck another vehicle and refused to stop. The suspect’s vehicle then came off the roadway and struck a tree located off the roadway of the eastbound lane. The vehicle sustained heavy front-end damage.” 

Sorrell said that the Fiat was listed as a stolen rental vehicle, but it’s not clear whether Sheridan and Winter had taken the car from another driver or whether they had rented the car and not returned it.

The trooper pulled over to the side of the road and drew his gun, which he kept trained on the two in the Fiat. Even though they were both injured, Sorrell said, he couldn’t take any chances on them trying to exit the car and flee on foot. He remained in position with his gun pointed at them until he was joined by State Police Sergeant Robert Janco from the Troop B barracks and by Trooper Gregory Naylor, who is the resident state trooper for North Canaan.

Salisbury, North Canaan and Kent are the only three towns in the Northwest Corner that participate in the state’s resident state trooper program at present. Local towns do not have their own police force; they are protected by state police out of the North Canaan Troop B barracks (known as “the troop”). Some towns hire a resident state trooper who is still a state police employee but who is assigned to a specific town and spends the majority of his or her time on duty there.

“Sgt. Janco was at the troop, and I was heading to the troop when the call came in,” Naylor said. “We started to head south; I took Route 7, Sgt. Janco took Sand Road. We got to the bank, saw that it was in lockdown and knew that it was safe. Then we headed out to look for the car. We then heard that Chris Sorrell had spotted the car and that it had crashed into the car ahead of it. 

“I knew Chris was alone so I took Salmon Kill Road to get there and provide backup. He was actually there alone for a long time. He put himself in harm’s way to ensure that they didn’t get out of that car and run.”

Danielson and Winter were handcuffed and then taken by Salisbury’s volunteer EMTs to Sharon Hospital and then Hartford Hospital. 

After their release, they were taken to the Troop L state police barracks in Litchfield, where they were incarcerated. Normally they would have been taken to Troop B but, Sorrell said, “our cells are being renovated.”

The police believe that Winter drove the Fiat to the Torrington Savings Bank (TSB) and dropped Danielson off. He went in and handed a note to one of the  tellers on duty. 

“He asked for 50s and 100s but we have strict cash controls at all our locations,” said John Janco, who is president and CEO of TSB (and is no relation to Sgt. Janco).

“The tellers don’t have immediate access to large sums of money; we put those cash controls in place for situations like this. We also have video surveillance. I’m happy to say that our policies and procedures were effective.”

Janco said that the robbers took $1,224. In his 43 years working for TSB, he said, “this is the first time that location has had a robbery. That branch used to be the Falls Village Savings Bank. We acquired it in 1971.”

Salisbury Bank and Trust chose not to comment on the robbery at their Great Barrington branch.

Winter did not use a gun in either bank robbery. There are unconfirmed reports, however, that there was a gun on the seat of the red Fiat.

Charges against Winter

So far, Winter has been charged with conspiracy to commit/larceny in the second degree from a person; conspiracy to commit robbery in the second degree; and hindering prosecution in the third degree. She is being held on a $250,000 bond. 

She was also arrested last year in March for larceny in the sixth degree for an incident dating back to Jan. 26, 2016, and she was arrested on other charges for which the court documents have been sealed. She is expected to appear in Danielson Superior Court in June on those charges.

Previous charges: Sheridan

Sheridan also has been arrested several times. In 2010, he was convicted in Danielson Superior Court of assault in the third degree for an incident in November 2009. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but execution of the sentence was suspended after two days and he was put on probation for two years. 

In 2013, he was found guilty at Danielson Court of criminal trespass and sentenced to a year in jail. Again execution of the sentence was suspended and he was put on probation for one year.

In June 2016, he was found guilty of disorderly conduct for an incident that occurred on Jan. 25, 2016, and sentenced to 90 days in jail. 

 On that same court date in June, he was convicted of possession of more than half an ounce of cannabis, for which he was sentenced to six months in prison; and of interfering with an officer and resisting, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail. Those two convictions stemmed from an incident on Jan. 27, 2016.

 And on that same June court date in Danielson, he was convicted of operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license and sentenced to 30 days in jail; of engaging police in pursuit, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail; of robbery in the third degree, for which he was sentenced to five years in jail, with execution suspended after six months and changed to three-years probation; and larceny in the sixth degree, for which he was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Those convictions stemmed from an incident on Aug. 27, 2015.

The state began Violation of Probation proceedings against him on Feb. 15. State Trooper Sorrell explained that probation is a sort of supervised release for someone who has been convicted of a crime. It is less severe than parole, which he said is an extension of prison.

More charges to come

There are still more charges for the incidents in Great Barrington and Falls Village against Sheridan that have not been filed yet. 

According to police documents, he has been charged so far with violation of probation; larceny in the second degree from a person; conspiracy to commit/larceny in the second degree from a person; conspiracy to commit robbery in the second degree from a bank or credit union employee; robbery in the second degree from a bank or credit union employee; and breach of peace and threatening.

There will also be motor vehicle charges against him from last Wednesday’s car chase.

He will face charges in Massachusetts for the robbery at the Salisbury Bank and Trust branch.

Sheridan is also believed to have committed several other robberies in Connecticut in January and February, including  one at a Hometown Bank branch in Webster, Conn., on Feb. 2; one at a branch of the Putnam Bank in Danielson on Jan. 24; and one at a People’s United Bank in a Stop & Shop grocery store in Putnam on Jan. 17. He left the Webster bank in a small red car, according to the Webster police.

Sheridan is being held on $250,000 bond. 

“These two are dangerous criminals,” State Trooper Naylor said of Sheridan and Winter. “This guy had been released once already. I hope the courts take this seriously and follow up on this.”

Sheridan was scheduled to appear at Bantam Superior Court on Feb. 21. Winter was scheduled to appear on Feb. 16.