Familiar voice leads to arrest in Laconia Spa robbery

LACONIA — Within minutes of the recent robbery at the Laconia Spa the police had their suspect because his voice was so familiar, according to a court document.

Justin R. Washburn, 31, no fixed address, has been charged with robbery in connection with the daytime holdup at the Church Street convenience store on Nov. 21.

According to an affidavit filed in support of Washburn's arrest, police were able to identify him due to his distinctive voice that was recorded by the store’s surveillance system.

The robber can be heard on the recording telling the store clerk, "Give me the money. Give me the money or I'll shoot you.” The robber kept his right hand in his pants pockets as he threatened the clerk, but at no time was a weapon shown.

“Upon hearing the voice of the suspect, I immediately recognized it as that of a subject I know from previous encounters to be Justin R. Washburn,” Officer Tyler Babineau said in the sworn affidavit filed in Belknap Superior Court.

Babineau then asked two other Laconia police officers who were also on the scene of the robbery to listen to the recording. Though Babineau told neither officer of his suspicions, they immediately recognized the voice as Washburn’s.

“I later sent out a patrol-wide email with the surveillance footage, and approximately a dozen officers replied to me independent of each other identifying Washburn as the voice on the footage,” the affidavit states.

Through the surveillance footage investigators were also able to get a detailed description of what the robber was wearing, including black sneakers with white or gray trim on the heels, and a distinctive camo hoodie.

A hoodie similar to that worn by the robber was found shortly after the robbery near a sidewalk on Church Street. When Washburn was taken into custody on an unrelated offense on Nov. 29, he was wearing sneakers that seem to match those worn by the robber, the affidavit states.

Washburn was arrested on the robbery charge last Thursday. He is currently being held without bail in the Belknap County Corrections facility.

The case has been referred to the Belknap County Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Washburn faces not only the possibility of serving prison time if convicted on the robbery charge, but could potentially be ordered to serve the suspended portion of a sentence related to a theft back in 2012.

When Washburn was sentenced in 2018 on an escape charge, the Belknap County Attorney’s Office asked the judge to impose the suspended portion of a sentence related to the theft and attempted pawning of a drill set from Boulia-Gorrell Lumber Co. Washburn served 12 months in confinement for that crime with two years suspended on condition of 10 years' good behavior.

On the motion, the judge sentenced Washburn to 2½ to five years, with all of the time suspended on condition of five years' good behavior — until 2023.