Man charged in series of Raleigh robberies

Raleigh police on Friday arrested a man in connection with at least five bank robberies over the past several months.

Posted 11:55 p.m. Dec 16, 2011 — Updated 2:38 p.m. Dec 18, 2011

RALEIGH, N.C. — Police on Friday arrested a Raleigh man in connection with at least five bank robberies over the past several months.

Donovan Sylvester Chaplain, 22, of 3822-C Brentwood Road, was charged with five counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, six counts of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, five counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

According to arrest warrants, Chaplain is a suspect in an attempted robbery at an Exxon station on New Bern Avenue on Nov. 6 and also five robberies, in which $1,389 was stolen:

• Papa John's, 5620 Capital Blvd., at 11:09 p.m. on Oct. 26

• Peace Street Market, 804 W. Peace St., at 11:45 p.m. on Oct. 31

• Circle K, 2400 Spring Forest Road, at 1:39 a.m. on Nov. 6

• Domino's Pizza, 4339 Falls of Neuse Road, at 9:52 p.m. on Nov. 6

• Circle K, 2600 Lake Boone Trail on Nov. 12

In all of the cases, police allege, he made threats using some type of weapon during the robberies.

Investigators are seeking to identify more people involved in the robberies, police said. Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to call Raleigh Crime Stoppers at 919-834-4357. Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve cases.

Chaplain was already in the Wake County jail on unrelated charges when he charged in the robberies, police said.

He was also serving probation for a February conviction for conspiracy to commit larceny from a person, as well as drug charges, according to state Department of Correction records.

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