2 charged with armed robbery after Craigslist sale goes bad

WOBURN (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Two people were arrested and charged with armed robbery Friday after an investigation into a Craigslist sale that went bad.

A 20-year-old Salem woman and 22-year-old Winchester man were arrested for armed robbery Friday, after an investigation into a Craigslist sale gone wrong May 25.

Kelsey Thornton, 20, of Salem, and Mkrtitch Elmezian, 22, of Winchester, were arrested and charged with armed robbery, Woburn police said. Thornton and Elmezian were held on $50,000 cash bail by Woburn District Court.

Woburn Police, along with officers from the Mass State Police Governors' Auto Theft Strike Force, Burlington Police, Waltham Police and Salem Police, believe that several similar incidents in Woburn, Burlington, Arlington, Cambridge, Waltham and Salem are linked to the pair. Suspect descriptions in the incidents match.

According to police, Thornton and Elmezian allegedly placed Internet ads for several cars in various communities, but potential buyers reported to police that they had a "bad feeling" about the transactions.

In Woburn, two women reported that a Craigslist car seller, described as a blonde woman with artificially colored hair in a "bob" haircut and tattoos around her neck, pointed a gun at them after they requested their money back. The victims told police they spoke to the buyers in a Locust Street parking lot and exchanged $1,300 for the keys and the title. When they decided they wanted their money back, the woman, later identified as Thornton, allegedly pointed a gun at them and started swearing.

The woman escaped the situation by driving away in the car they arrived in, later reporting it to Woburn police. Similar situations were reported in other communities, according to police.