Two arrested in robbery of hotel clerk at knifepoint in Raynham

RAYNHAM — Chief James Donovan reports that the Raynham Police Department arrested and charged a man and a woman with robbing a hotel clerk at knifepoint early Sunday morning.

JOSEPH PIERCE, AGE 36, and JULIA PUCCIARELLI, AGE 30, BOTH OF BROCKTON were each charged with:

Armed Robbery
Armed Assault to Rob
Vandalizing Property
Witness Intimidation

Raynham Police, with the assistance of Brockton Police, executed a search warrant at PUCCIARELLI’S home on Lookoff Street in Brockton at approximately 9:20 p.m. Sunday night.

PIERCE and PUCCIARELLI were arrested at the home without further incident and their rental vehicle was seized.

At approximately 2 a.m. on Sunday, Raynham Police responded to the Courtyard Marriott hotel, 37 Paramount Drive, for a report of a hotel clerk that had just been robbed.

The clerk, who was uninjured, told police that a man entered the hotel lobby and went into a back room where the woman was working and brandished a knife and demanded money from her.

The man, later identified as PIERCE, then fled from the hotel with an undisclosed amount of cash and left the scene in a dark-colored sedan, allegedly being driven by PUCCIARELLI.

As police were investigating, a report came in about an attempted shoplifting incident at the nearby Walmart, 36 Paramount Drive, that occurred a short time prior to the robbery.

Video footage from the store showed a man attempting to steal items before being seen by store employees and fleeing without the items.

Through the subsequent investigation, and reviewing video footage from the hotel and Walmart, police were able to determine that PIERCE was the man in both videos.

The footage from Walmart showed PIERCE leaving in a black Hyundai Elantra with a Virginia license plate. It also showed PUCCIARELLI leaving the store and getting into the vehicle. Police were able to obtain the vehicle’s license plate and determined it was a rental vehicle registered to PUCCIARELLI.

Both PIERCE and PUCCIARELLI are being investigated for similar incidents out of West Bridgewater, Waltham and Boston and they could face additional charges. The investigation remains ongoing.

Chief Donovan would like to thank the Brockton Police Department and Walmart Asset Protection for their assistance in this case.

Both suspects were being held pending arraignment Monday at Taunton District Court.