Man in 2007 hostage standoff at Clinton campaign HQ charged in bank job

A SWAT team descends on Rochester's Main Street during a hostage situation at the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters in 2007. (Jodei Hilton for the New York Times photo); Inset, Leeland Eisenberg police mug shot.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The former Somersworth man who took hostages at Hillary Clinton's Rochester campaign office in 2007 was charged in the armed robbery of a Citizens Bank in Manchester on Tuesday.

Leeland Eisenberg, 55, allegedly handed a teller a note demanding cash, claimed he had a gun and said he'd start shooting if his demands were not met.

Police later said Eisenberg was not armed, but under New Hampshire law it is considered an armed robbery if the suspect says they have a weapon.

Eisenberg was later spotted by police walking into a local cemetery Tuesday evening and taken into custody without incident.

Eisenberg, who now lives in Concord, had a small amount of cash and some crack cocaine in his possession when he was arrested.

He was charged with bank robbery and possession of a controlled drug.

Eisenberg was arraigned by phone from Catholic Medical Center on Wednesday, with bail set at $25,000 cash or surety.

During the arraignment Eisenberg indicated to the court he would be representing himself in connection with the charges.

In 2007 on Nov. 30, Black Friday, he claimed to have a bomb when he walked into the Clinton campaign office in downtown Rochester and took several hostages.

The incident spurred a mammoth police presence in the downtown and riveted a nation for an entire afternoon.

No one was hurt in the five-hour standoff.

During the tense afternoon, Eisenberg made several calls to CNN complaining about the state of mental health care in the nation.

When he finally surrendered police used a robot to determine the suspected bomb was road flares.

Clinton, herself, was nowhere in the vicinity when the incident occurred.

Eisenberg, who was living in Somersworth at the time of the incident, reportedly had been scheduled to appear in court earlier in the afternoon with his then wife for a domestic violence hearing.

Eisenberg ended up going to jail for his part in the hostage taking and served extra time for probation violations. Since he was granted parole in 2014 he has since had several brushes with the law but none as serious as this.