DRACUT — A woman sitting alone in a parked car outside a pot dispensary feared she was about to be killed after an e-bike rider allegedly demanded to be let inside the vehicle, reached into his pocket when she grabbed for her phone and repeatedly pressured her for money.
The encounter left the woman pleading not to be killed and surrendering all the money she had to the man, according to a Dracut Police incident report. Police allege the man, later identified as 23-year-old Sameer Abdu, of Lowell, fled the scene on an e-bike before leading officers on a brief pursuit that crossed into Methuen.
The incident unfolded around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday while the Dracut Police were already searching for a suspect wanted by the Methuen Police in an unrelated cellphone theft investigation.
According to the report, dispatchers informed officers that a suspect accused of stealing a cellphone at knifepoint in Methuen had fled into Dracut. As officers headed toward Merrimack Avenue, a separate 911 call came in reporting that a woman had just been robbed in the parking lot of Nova Farms, 1274 Merrimack Ave.
The victim told police she was sitting in the passenger seat of her boyfriend’s locked vehicle while he was shopping inside the dispensary when a man on a black e-bike allegedly began to circle the car. The suspect eventually approached and tapped on the window, according to police.
The victim told investigators she partially rolled down the window, and the man instructed her, “You’re going to let me in the car,” the report states. Police said when she reached for her phone, the man quickly reached into his pocket and told her, “You are not going to tell anyone.”
Police said the victim, fearing the man was armed, offered him $20 to leave. When he demanded more money, she handed over a total of $70.
In a written statement provided to police, the victim said the man continued insisting she allow him into the vehicle and became increasingly aggressive.
“I felt in fear for my life because I thought he did have a weapon from the way he was asking me to open the door and reaching into his pocket,” the victim wrote in a statement included in the incident report. “I had even begged him not to kill me a few times that’s how scared I was.”
The alleged confrontation ended only when the victim’s boyfriend returned from the dispensary. The suspect then fled on the e-bike toward Lowell.
While searching the area, police spotted a man on a black e-bike near the intersection of Merrimack Avenue and Huron Street matching the description provided by the victim. According to the report, the officer activated his cruiser’s emergency lights and attempted to stop the rider. The rider looked back, accelerated and turned onto Huron Street before cutting through a yard and disappearing from sight.
A short time later, the Methuen Police located a suspect near the intersection of Methuen and Arlington streets, just over the town line. According to the report, a Methuen officer observed the suspect pushing an e-bike before he allegedly dropped it and fled on foot. The pursuit ended after the suspect fell while running through a residential property.
The victim from the dispensary parking lot was later brought to the scene and identified the detained man as the person who robbed her, according to police.
Police said the victim told officers she was “one hundred percent certain” the suspect was the same man who confronted her in the Nova Farms parking lot.
Abdu declined to make a statement after his arrest. Police did not recover the stolen cash from his person. A cellphone reported stolen in the Methuen incident was later found in the backyard of a home in the 50 block of Percy Street, according to the report.
Abdu was charged by the Dracut Police with unarmed robbery and failure to stop for police.
He was arraigned on Thursday in Lowell District Court, where Judge John Coffey ordered him held on $7,500 cash bail.
Court records show Abdu was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. Following a hearing, the court determined he was not competent to stand trial and ordered a further evaluation while he remains held on bail.
He is scheduled to return to court Dec. 16.
The Dracut Police said in a press release about the incident that the Methuen Police Department continues to investigate the alleged armed robbery in their community.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
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