An Aurora man has been arrested in connection with a June 25 bank robbery in Bainbridge Township.
Michael V. Holohan, 56, of 10570 Connecticut Street, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Geauga County Safety Center. He was charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, punishable by three to 11 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.
Holohan made an initial video appearance in Chardon Municipal Court on Thursday morning, accompanied by Geauga County Assistant Public Defender Dawn Gargiulo.
Gargiulo told Judge Terri Stupica that Holohan presently is unemployed and is a disabled Army veteran. He also has a prior criminal record that includes several felony convictions.
Gargiulo requested bond be set a 10 percent of $50,000 or “something less than that.”
Stupica recited a list of Holohan’s criminal activities, dating back to 1991. The list included two felony robbery convictions in New York in the early 1990s and a misdemeanor larceny conviction in 2004, also in New York. He also has two felony drug convictions in New York in 1994 and 1995.
In 2010, Holohan was convicted of felony robbery in Cuyahoga County. According to media reports, Holohan entered the Giant Eagle grocery store in Solon and flashed a gun in the pharmacy department and demanded painkillers. He told the pharmacist he had terminal cancer.
After receiving the painkillers, he ran out of the store. He later was identified from surveillance photos.
Holohan told Gargiulo he was not familiar with some of the charges Stupica recited.
“Can I speak at all?” Holohan asked. “I suffer from PTSD and I’m going to show up for court. You know, I’ve never missed court.”
Gargiulo added Holohan “doesn’t have the resources to post a very high bond” and gave his assurance he would appear in court.
But Stupica said Holohan is a “multi-state offender” as well as a “repeat offender.”
“And I do have recommendation from county prosecutor James Flaiz for a $250,000 cash or surety bond, which the court is going to accept,” she added.
The court also ordered Holohan undergo a mental health assessment because he mentioned he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
A preliminary hearing is set for 10 a.m. July 27.
Holohan is accused of entering the Chase Bank branch at 8501 Tanglewood Square the afternoon of June 25 — wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and orange-tinted sunglasses — and handing the teller a note and bag demanding money.
He did not brandish a weapon, according to Bainbridge police, but a witness told a Geauga County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher the robber appeared to have a weapon in his back pocket at the time of the robbery.
Holohan took an undisclosed amount of money and ran to a black Honda Civic parked behind the Giant Eagle grocery store and drove south on state Route 306, witnesses said.