Edgartown teenager charged with armed robbery

The Massachusetts State Police have charged an Edgartown man with armed robbery, threat to commit a crime, and possession of liquor under 21 years of age following an incident in Oak Bluffs. 

Jordan Coyle, 18, allegedly robbed a man in marshland along South Circuit Avenue using a paintball gun fashioned to look like a Glock. Coyle also allegedly threatened a motorist with the same gun. Court records show Coyle, who is from Edgartown, was arraigned on Sept. 29 in Edgartown District Court, and was released on $500 bail with the conditions he remain drug- and alcohol-free, and that he stay away from the alleged victims. The Times discovered the arraignment weeks later during a routine examination of case files. 

Trooper Zachary Bolcome happened upon Coyle and the alleged robbery victim near a Toyota Camry on the roadside while on routine patrol in Oak Bluffs, according to a report. Trooper Bolcome pulled over to investigate after he observed suspicious body language from Coyle, and spied a bottle in his hand that he appeared to be attempting to conceal, according to a report. On or about that time, the Camry mysteriously pulled away from the scene, a report shows. After discovering Coyle allegedly had a bottle of wine and that Coyle and the alleged robbery victim were under 21, the trooper placed them both in custody, according to a report. Trooper Bolcome found Coyle had a pistol in his front waistband, and was informed by Coyle it was something other than a bona fide firearm, according to a report. The car that had pulled away returned to the scene, and Trooper Bolcome learned the motorist may have also been a victim of Coyle’s. After speaking with the motorist and the alleged robbery victim, and after three Oak Bluffs Police officers arrived on scene to assist, Trooper Bolcome was able to outline what appears to have happened.  

The motorist told the trooper she originally drove away because she didn’t realize he was a State Police officer, but returned after she realized he was, according to a report. The motorist alleged that while she was parked in the area, Coyle approached her vehicle, crouched down, and banged on the window, according to a report. After she called him out for doing that, a report alleges, he told her he had a gun. These alleged events made more sense after the trooper heard from the alleged robbery victim, a 19-year-old man who, according to a report, said he came to the area to meet a woman in the marsh and smoke weed with her. That woman was allegedly Coyle’s girlfriend, and Coyle had allegedly lured the alleged robbery victim there by using his girlfriend’s phone to send texts. When the robbery victim walked out onto what a report described as a path into an “unlit” area of marsh, Coyle was waiting for him.

“He stated that Coyle then pulled the pistol on him, cocked it, and told him to hand over all his possessions,” a report states. 

The alleged robbery victim told police he believed Coyle was mad at him for talking with his girlfriend (whom nobody appears to have witnessed at the scene) and he also believed Coyle mistook the woman in the car for a waiting friend. Coyle was back on the roadside because he’d allegedly marched the robbery victim back out of the marsh at gunpoint after robbing him, a report shows. 

Coyle wouldn’t tell police why he had the gun with him, a report shows. 

Police found the tires of the alleged robbery victim’s truck, which was parked in the area, slashed.

Coyle allegedly cursed at Trooper Bolcome during his arrest and transfer, and slammed his head “repeatedly” against the inside of the cruiser.

Trooper Bolcome noted in his report that without close examination, the paintball gun was “virtually indistinguishable from a Glock 17 firearm.”

Coyle is expected back in court on Dec. 16.