Suspect in movie heist has jail record

Sean Patrick Flavin, captured in Watertown, Conn. on robbery charges in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, had served 18 months in jail on gun theft charges in southern Florida.

Flavin, 33, was charged in Connecticut on Thursday with interfering with a police officer after a nearly five-hour standoff at a farm house in Watertown. He also is being held in Connecticut as a fugitive from justice on the arrest warrant charging him with robbing a Movies 14 clerk at gunpoint on East Northampton Street on Sunday night.

City police allege Flavin was armed with a handgun and threatened Colin Henry as he left the ticket box office at about 10:30 p.m. Flavin demanded the money bag and told Henry not to watch him leave, according to the criminal complaint.

A security camera recorded Flavin pacing in the parking garage attached to the movie theater lobby before the robbery.

The search for Flavin began when city police Detective Charles Jensen got a tip from Lydia Naperkowski, who recognized Flavin from a picture that was released to the media on Monday, according to the criminal complaint.

Naperkowski turned over a money bag she found under a child's play pen in her residence.

Flavin had lived in Connecticut before moving to Port Saint Lucie, Fla. in the early 2000s.

An officer with the Port Saint Lucie Police Department said Thursday that Flavin has a list of offenses from 2001 to 2008, including harassment by telephone, grand theft and violating a court order. He was also a victim of an assault in 2004.

Records of the Florida Department of Corrections say Flavin served 18 months of a three-year sentence imposed in January 2005 on charges of grand theft of a firearm and false information to a pawn broker. He was released in October 2006.

Watertown police Lt. Mark Raimo did not return a message for information on Thursday.

The Town Times newspaper on its website reported Thursday that Flavin is expected to be extradited to Wilkes-Barre in about two weeks.

Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said she is waiting to hear if Flavin voluntarily agrees to be returned to Wilkes-Barre or if he fights extradition.