SALEM — A Danvers man's ego may have gotten him indicted for a brazen, 2008 drug store burglary in North Andover, after he was overheard boasting about it to a cohort during a car ride months later.
"It was on the news," John Donovan allegedly said during a conversation that was being recorded by federal agents. "It was great."
Donovan, 43, of 98 Newbury St., was one of two masked men — one of them dressed like a ninja —who used a sledgehammer to smash their way into a Walgreens at the intersection of Route 114 and Waverley Road just after midnight on Aug. 4, 2008, prosecutors allege.
The pair was in the store just two minutes but made off with thousands of Percocet and Vicodin pills from the pharmacy, using pry bars to open locked cabinets. Unbeknownst to them, a store manager was in his office and spotted the two on a surveillance monitor. But the pair got away.
A few months later, the state police and FBI were conducting surveillance of Donovan, who was a suspect in some other robberies.
Police were following him and another man one night as they planned to burglarize a Tewksbury drugstore, a plan that was abandoned because Donovan noticed a video camera and got spooked.
As Donovan and the man, who turned out to be an informant, traveled down Route 114 on their way back from Tewksbury, Donovan pointed out the Walgreens store, prosecutor James Gubitose said.
"We did that one," Donovan boasted to the informant, who was wearing a body wire. "It was on the news. It was great. They called us ninjalike," Gubitose told the judge.
Police continued their surveillance of Donovan, meanwhile, tailing him as he traveled to Pennsylvania on a private plane on which a GPS device had been planted, Gubitose said.
Donovan was caught in Northampton County, Pa., while trying to break into a pharmacy there.
Last month, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and was sentenced to six to 12 months in jail, according to Pennsylvania court records. With credit for time served, he was brought back to Massachusetts this week and appeared yesterday in Salem Superior Court to be arraigned.
Donovan pleaded not guilty to breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony and receiving stolen property over $250.
Judge John Lu set bail at $100,000 cash, at the request of Gubitose.
Gubitose told the judge yesterday that Donovan could face an additional indictment on drug trafficking charges based on the stolen pills.
Donovan has a record of similar crimes in Massachusetts as well as New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida, as well as the recent Pennsylvania case.
Despite that record, defense lawyer Michael Phelan argued for a lower bail, no more than $1,000, citing Donovan's ties to the area. Phelan said Donovan was born and raised in Lynn, where he graduated from Lynn Technical High School in 1984. He said Donovan has an associate's degree in computer design.
Donovan's mother, brother and 19-year-old son were in court yesterday.
