A Wakefield man was arrested Monday on suspicion he was about to rob a Porter Square bank, police said.

The FBI Bank Robbery Task Force called Cambridge police in the morning with a warning that Paul Gowell, 53, of 678 Main St., Wakefield, was planning to rob a Cambridge Trust Co. bank at 1720 Massachusetts Ave., said Daniel Riviello, the police departmentโ€™s communications specialist.

Detectives and members of the Bank Robbery Task Force surveilled the area, identified Gowell and at about 10:30 a.m. took him into custody outside the bank before a crime could be committed, Riviello said.

Gowell was charged with one count of attempt to commit a crime and two counts of unarmed robbery from incidents at the East Cambridge Savings Bank on Dec. 3 and at the Harvard University Employee Credit Union on Oct. 30.

This post was written primarily from a press release.

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