Two charged in bank robbery due in court Wednesday [02/04/2009]

By Nate Giarnese

A Maine felon who allegedly held up a Sanbornville bank with a pruning saw only to be tackled by five stout-hearted construction workers is due in court Wednesday.Paul Dimeo, a tattooed ex-con released in October from federal prison after an 11-year stint for a bank heist, is now under investigation by the FBI. The feds may tack on additional charges over the Jan. 23 hit on Profile Bank, police said at a recent court hearing.At a hearing last Monday, police charged Dimeo, 37, formerly of New Haven, Conn., and more recently of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, with armed robbery. They charged his alleged getaway driver, Tammy Fowler, 49, of Old Orchard Beach, with accomplice to armed robbery.Five workers who pinned Dimeo to the ground outside the bank to help police recover nearly $10,000 in stolen cash were hailed as small-town heroes.They apprehended the ex-con before he could draw the 18-inch pruning saw he had in a hip holster, police said. When police arrived, green bills were scattered all over the snow, court papers say.These are local or small-town guys. They just don't put up with (criminals). That's a good message to send out to people, Wakefield Police Lt. Mark O'Brien said in one newspaper interview. Go find a new town, because this one does not put up with that.Dover plumber and ex-Marine Robert Dutcher told WMUR of his encounter with the felon, You got to step up to the plate.The plumber's daughter beamed with pride, telling the station, My daddy stopped them and he said no.Dimeo has been jailed without bail pending a 9 a.m. hearing Wednesday in Carroll County District Court for Southern Carroll County Wednesday. Police say Fowler sat in a nearby parking spot in an idling Dodge Caravan as Dimeo left a trail of footsteps in the snow between the van and the bank.