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Update on Leave the knife take the cannolis

Cannoli thief avoids getting creamed by justice system
By Laurel J. Sweet | Wednesday, September 19, 2012 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage

A pastry plunderer’s just desserts won’t be too hard to swallow, thanks to a North End bakery’s owners, who decided against exacting sweet revenge.

Irish tourist Robert McTernan, 25, admitted Monday in Boston Municipal Court there were sufficient facts for a jury to find him guilty of larceny under $250 for robbing Bova’s Bakery on Salem Street at 3 a.m. Thursday of two ricotta-cheese cannolis valued at approximately $5 while allegedly flashing what terrified employees described as a large knife.

The blade was never recovered. Prosecutors agreed to reduce a charge of armed robbery to larceny and offered nine month’s probation in exchange for his admitting to the cannoli caper.

Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said Judge Thomas Horgan banned McTernan from returning to the bakery and ordered him to return to Ireland in the custody of his parents, who flew to Boston to collect him. In addition, McTernan, who Wark said has no criminal history in his native country, must perform 50 hours of community service in Ireland and undergo treatment for substance abuse.

“If he abides by those conditions and does not reoffend for nine months, we will dismiss the charge,” Wark said.

Had a jury convicted McTernan of larceny, he could have faced up to one year in jail.

Ralph Bova, whose family has owned the sweet shop for 85 years, said: “I’m just glad no one got hurt. That was my main concern. You don’t know who you’re dealing with at that hour of the morning.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061161395