Man accused in armed robbery at Rochester apartment house gets year in jail

Travis Garand will see his felony robbery sentence go away if he completes drug court. (Rochester Police photo; background/Courtesy)

DOVER - An Epping man accused in an armed robbery at a Rochester apartment house in April 2020 pleaded guilty to the charge on Monday in Strafford Superior Court.

Travis Garand, 23, of Harvey Lane, Epping, also pleaded guilty to two counts of Domestic Violence stalking from November and a probation violation for which he received a 12-month sentence.

The 3½- to seven-year felony robbery charge will be suspended upon his release following his one-year sentence on the condition that he enters and completes a drug court program, Assistant County Attorney Emily C. Garod noted on Monday.

The robbery at Northgate Apartments on Farmington Road unfolded around 9 p.m. on April 14, 2020, when a woman called 911 to say she had escaped into woods behind the Northgate Apartments after four men robbed her and another victim at gunpoint.

"While Police were en route to the call, the caller stated they were hiding in the woods and the people chasing her fled in a vehicle, reported to be a Jeep," Pinkham added.

Police located the Jeep and its occupants as they were about to leave the parking lot, conducted a traffic stop and detained the occupants of the vehicle.

Police at the time of the arrests said they believed the two groups met online and arranged to meet to conduct a transaction, the nature of which was not specified.

"The parties met and at some point during the transaction a firearm was used in the commission of a robbery of two people," Rochester Police Capt. Todd Pinkham said shortly after the arrest.

The status of the other three defendants in the case was not immediately available.