Police cite 'misunderstanding' in last month's attempted robbery incident at Hannaford's

ROCHESTER - Police now say that what had been described as a robbery attempt at the Milton Road Hannaford's last month was the result of a panhandling request of an elderly woman who was startled by the man's request and unintentionally misrepresented to police what had happened.

The incident occurred on March 19 around 5:15 p.m. in the parking lot when the man asked the woman, who is 85, for money.

The original incident represented the man as demanding money, but the woman came forward recently and said she had a new recollection.

"When the police interviewed the female at that time, she indicated that a crime had occurred," a Rochester Police statement released today said, "but has since retracted that stating that she was very upset at the time, and had since replayed the situation realizing she had not been accurate in her original statement."

When a person knowingly gives false statements to police, it is a crime, but police say they don't believe the woman intentionally did that, and there will be no charges forthcoming in the case.