BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2014—The suspect in a Roxbury home invasion was held on a quarter-million dollars’ cash bail yesterday at his arraignment on charges that might not have issued without commercial and law enforcement use of GPS technology, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

ROBERT HECKSTALL (D.O.B. 3/18/83) was arraigned yesterday on two counts each of armed assault in a dwelling, armed and masked robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and kidnapping for the incident two weeks on Maple Street. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Costello recommended that he be held on $1 million cash bail; Roxbury Municipal Court Judge Pamela Dashiell imposed $250,000. At prosecutors’ request, she also ordered that the names and personal information of the victims be subject to a protective order.

Heckstall is accused of being one of four men who forced their way into an apartment after the two residents came home on the night of Jan. 29, stealing cash and holding the victims at gunpoint before fleeing. Boston Police responded to the scene moments after the call came in, but were unable to locate any suspects.

Among other items, Heckstall allegedly stole one victim’s iPhone. In the days following the incident, detectives were able to use the iCloud tracking feature to learn that it was active at a location on Elm Hill Avenue. They also obtained text messages that were being sent to that phone. The phone number of the phone sending messages to the stolen phone was registered to a person residing on Elm Hill Avenue.

Detectives travelled to the residence and knocked on the text message sender’s door. When a woman answered, police activated the stolen phone’s alarm and could hear it sounding from inside the apartment. When they asked whose phone it was, Heckstall – who was inside the apartment – allegedly stated, “That’s my phone.”

The detectives at this point placed Heckstall under arrest and retrieved the phone. As they did so, they realized that Heckstall was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet because he was on probation following a 2½-year sentence for witness intimidation.

In a post-Miranda statement, Heckstall allegedly said that he bought the phone on the street and, at the time of the home invasion, was near Upham’s Corner visiting a girlfriend whose name and address he could not provide. Detectives contacted Heckstall’s probation officer and requested a review of his whereabouts on the night of Jan. 29; the GPS records showed that he was in the area of the home invasion at the time it was occurring.

The investigation into the identities of the three other assailants remains very active, Conley said. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Boston Police District B-2 detectives.

Heckstall was represented by attorney Yolanda Acevedo. He will return to court on March 4.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.