Two Fall River men held without bail in Superior Court in Franklin Street armed robbery case
Howard was arraigned Monday and Moreno on Oct. 15. A pretrial conference is set for Nov. 20.
FALL RIVER Two Fall River men charged in a July armed robbery on Franklin Street, in which police said a robber showed a gun, have pleaded not guilty in Fall River Superior Court and are being held without bail, the Fall River Reporter reported Monday.
Aaren Howard, 36, was arraigned in Superior Court on Monday, Oct. 26, on charges of armed robbery, trafficking 36 grams or more of fentanyl, possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card and possession of a large capacity feeding device, the outlet reported. Adilson Moreno, 23, was arraigned there on Thursday, Oct. 15, on charges of armed robbery, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of a large capacity feeding device. Both men pleaded not guilty and were held without bail, and a pretrial conference is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20. Both are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Earlier, at their arraignments in Fall River District Court, both men had also pleaded not guilty and been held without bail, the outlet reported, citing court records.
The robbery and the search
Fall River police gave this account, as the Fall River Reporter published it. Officers responded to an armed robbery on Franklin Street on Friday, July 17, where a suspect showed a firearm. Patrol officers determined three people were involved, recovered surveillance video and shared images of the suspects with the rest of the department, and detectives identified Howard and Moreno through a coordinated investigation.
At the same time, detectives from the department's Community Action and Suppression Team were working a separate narcotics investigation involving Howard, which led to a search warrant for a home on Rodman Street where detectives determined the two men were staying. The Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section assisted.
On Friday, July 24, members of the department's Emergency Services Unit helped detectives carry out the warrant, and Howard and Moreno were found inside. Detectives recovered a Ruger SR9C 9mm handgun, a 17 round magazine holding 14 rounds of ammunition, about 50.13 grams of suspected fentanyl and clothing believed to have been worn during the robbery. Major Crimes detectives determined the gun matched the description of the one used in the July 17 robbery, police said, and both men were arrested.
Police listed a longer set of charges at the time of the arrests, including improper storage of a firearm and receiving stolen property for both men. The charges above are the ones the outlet reported at each man's Superior Court arraignment.
Why the cases are in Superior Court
Armed robbery is punishable by up to life in state prison or any term of years under Chapter 265, Section 17, of the General Laws, and it is not among the offenses a district court may try. Chapter 218, Section 26, gives district courts power to try felonies punishable by no more than five years in state prison and a list of other named crimes; armed robbery is not on that list, so a case like this one goes to Superior Court for trial.
What comes next
The pretrial conference for both men is set for Nov. 20 in Fall River Superior Court, the Fall River Reporter reported. South Coast 360 will update this story as the cases move. For how a criminal case moves from a charge to a court date, see our explainer.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
The police account of the robbery, the investigation and the search comes from the Fall River Police Department, as the Fall River Reporter reported it Oct. 26. The arraignments, pleas, holds without bail and the Nov. 20 pretrial conference come from the same report, which cites court records for the District Court arraignments, and are credited to the outlet until we read the court record. The penalty and the district court's limits come from the General Laws. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. No victim is named.
Corrections
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Sources (3)
- Fall River Reporter, "Two Fall River men held without bail in Superior Court after two separate armed robbery and drug/firearm investigations" (Oct. 26, 2026)The Fall River police account of the July 17 robbery, the investigation, the July 24 search and the items recovered; the charges at arrest; the District Court arraignments (citing court records); the Superior Court arraignments of Moreno (Oct. 15) and Howard (Monday), the pleas, the holds without bail and the Nov. 20 pretrial conference. Posted Oct. 26, 2026, 4:52 p.m. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 265, Section 17Armed robbery and its penalty. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 218, Section 26Offenses the district courts may hear, concurrent with the Superior Court. Read Oct. 25, 2026.