A Gloucester man, still wearing his Middleton jail identification, was arrested yesterday on charges of attempting to rob the 7-Eleven store on Maplewood Avenue.
Ricci Marshall Jr., 27, was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail by Judge Joseph Jennings III in Gloucester District Court yesterday. He pleaded not guilty to unarmed robbery, assault and battery on an elderly person and malicious destruction of property.
In a separate case, Marshall had been placed on probation for a year Friday after pleading guilty to malicious destruction of property valued at more than $250. He was sentenced to nine months in jail; 18 days that were to be served were deemed already served, and the remainder was suspended for one year.
When he was arrested yesterday, Marshall was considered to be in violation of his probation conditions and was ordered held without bail, meaning even if the $10,000 cash bail is posted, he still would not be released from jail.
He also has a default warrant from Salem Superior Court, where he was indicted in December on charges of unarmed robbery stemming from a string of robberies where police said a group that included Marshall jumped a man outside the Blackburn Tavern in August.
"This is someone who continues to commit these crimes," said prosecutor Beth Margossian.
Marshall will have a pretrial hearing Aug. 10.
"He was just out of jail," said Lt. Michael Williams. "He still had his Middleton ID on him when we got him."
According to police, Marshall entered the 7-Eleven yesterday morning about 5:30, in the company of a friend's pit bull, threw the Lottery machine on the floor and lunged across the counter at the clerk, Stephen Alpin, 66, of Salem.
Alpin grabbed a hammer he keeps under the counter and hit Marshall on the chest, police said. A customer, Jason Edwards, helped fight Marshall off while Alpin struck Marshall a couple of more times with the hammer. During the struggle, Marshall cut his face on the metal hanger used to keep plastic bags.
Marshall fled the store, but left the pit bull behind, police said.
Sgt. Anthony Parisi and Patrolmen Joseph Palazola and James Parady arrived and interviewed Alpin, who had blood on his shirt and hands, and Edwards.
When the dog left to go home after the ordeal, Parisi and Parady followed him in their cruiser to Proctor Street and waited for the owner to let him inside, Williams said. The dog's owner told police that Marshall had been staying with him and walking the dog in the morning. Police took the man to 7-Eleven to make sure Alpin did not recognize him. Police took the Proctor Street man home, but animal control officer Jamie Levie took possession of the dog temporarily.
On the way back to the store, Parisi and Parady saw Marshall in the loading lot of Shaw's, near the railroad crossing on Maplewood Avenue, covering his face.
They got out of the car and, with their weapons drawn, ordered Marshall to the ground and arrested him. The rescue squad took him to Addison Gilbert Hospital, where he was treated for the gash on his face, and he was returned to the police station.
Police then returned the Proctor Street man's pit bull to him.
Sal Hashmi, a manager at 7-Eleven, said yesterday afternoon "nothing major" was damaged in the store. The Lottery Commission had replaced the machine by 1:30 p.m.
