BELCHERTOWN - A Palmer man, currently held in jail on other charges, has confessed to the armed robbery of the Ye Olde Grog Shoppe last month, police said.

John Paul Hurley, 25, of 3088 Pine St., in the Bondsville section of Palmer, is being held at the Hampden Country Jail in Ludlow, on unrelated charges of breaking and entering and receiving stolen property, said Belchertown Police Chief Francis Fox. An arrest warrant for Hurley for armed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and threatening to commit a crime (murder) was issued Monday by the Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, Fox said.

Police said Hurley is the man who entered the Grog Shoppe wearing a bandana Sept. 12, held a knife to customer's throat and demanded cash before fleeing on foot. Police asked for and received the help from the public with the case, Fox said, with several people offering thoughts about who might be involved.

Police departments in Palmer and Ludlow assisted in the three-week investigation, Fox said.

On Friday, Ludlow police received a search warrant from Palmer District Court in Palmer, to search Hurley's home for evidence regarding that town's case. Evidence linking Hurley and his live-in girlfriend, Ashlee Walker, 23, to a series of house break-ins in south Belchertown, Palmer and Ludlow was seized, and both were arrested on charges of receiving stolen property. While in custody, Fox said Hurley "confessed to the Grog Shoppe robbery."

Belchertown police will be notified before Hurley is released from the Ludlow jail, and he will then be arrested and arraigned in the Belchertown court, said Fox.

Fox commended the cooperation and long hours put in by detectives from the three police departments in cracking the case. "This would not have been solved without their hard work," Fox said.