BETHEL – Two more young Massachusetts men were arrested late Tuesday night as police continued investigating that afternoon’s armed robbery at a Big Apple convenience store.

Christopher John Shannon, 21, of 481 E. Water St., Rockland, Mass., and David Paul Brandolini Jr., 18, of 123 Plain St., Rockland, were each charged with felony possession of heroin.

Oxford County Capt. James P. Miclon said Wednesday afternoon that both men were in the county jail in Paris awaiting arraignment Thursday morning.

Shannon is the brother of Daniel Patrick Shannon, 19, who was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Paris for allegedly robbing the Big Apple store on Railroad Street at gunpoint with accomplice Brian Edward Kinlin, 19.

After talking with police in Rockland, Miclon learned the four men were free on probation from drug charges in Massachusetts.

Rockland police were also trading notes with Miclon about the Bethel holdup because they have been investigating some armed robberies and burglaries there that shared many similarities with Tuesday’s holdup.

Christopher Shannon and Brandolini were arrested after Oxford County police, state troopers, Bethel officers and Maine Drug Enforcement agents executed a search warrant at 9:30 p.m. at a Sunday River Ski Resort condominium in Newry where the four were staying.

The search warrant was obtained because police expected to find drugs and other stolen guns on the premises, Miclon said.

The .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol that Daniel Shannon admitted using in the holdup was one of two stolen in Rockland, Miclon said.

No guns were found in the Shannon brothers’ parents’ condo at 106 Fall Line, but police did find and seize some heroin and drug paraphernalia.

They also obtained more information and evidence regarding the holdup, said Bethel Police Chief Darren M. Tripp.

“My two bad guys (Daniel Shannon and Kinlin) had come up the night before the holdup to the Irving station on Route 2 and discussed doing an armed robbery there, but Chris Shannon talked them out of it,” Tripp said Wednesday afternoon.

Instead, Daniel Shannon and Kinlin told police that they had driven around Bethel looking for a business to rob before settling on the Big Apple because there were less people there at the time of the holdup, Tripp said.

Miclon said he was alarmed about the increase of armed robberies in Oxford County. Last year, there was one. Tuesday afternoon’s holdup was the third he and his officers have been involved with this year.

Daniel Shannon and Kinlin were captured on Route 26 by Paris police after they crashed their car into a tree. They were driving back to Massachusetts to buy more heroin before returning to the Newry condo, police said.

“When (the ski resort) brings the many big city people up here, some of them are also bringing the big city problems with them,” Tripp said. “A certain number of these people are not going to be of sterling character and people here need to be aware of this.

“The days of leaving your car or home unlocked are long gone and the days of Bethel being a quiet little western Maine town are over,” he added.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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