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Charges against the Clinton man accused of robbing a Waltham bank in July have been dropped, according to police.

John Spencer, 42, was arrested July 10 and accused of an attempted robbery at the Citizens Bank at 716 Main St. Those charges were dropped Thursday following a lengthy investigation by Waltham Police and Spencer’s lawyer.

For Spencer, a painting contractor, the entire ordeal has been tough, not only for him and his family, but for his business.

“It’s been really difficult. I have my own business and I’ve lost a lot of customers,” Spencer said Friday. “This has cost me a lot of money. Other than that, it’s been tough on my family and kids.”

Four bank robberies happened that day, three of which occurred consecutively in Arlington, Waltham and Newton. The fourth took place around 5 p.m. at the Sovereign Bank on Trapelo Road.

Clinton and Waltham police arrested Spencer at his home the evening of July 10.

“I was watching the All-Star game, it actually just started, and I heard a loud knock on the door and I look out my window and I can see about eight to 10 people standing by the door,” Spencer said Friday. “I knew something was going on. I opened the door. They just told me to step outside and they never really explained why.”

Spencer was charged with the attempted robbery in Waltham that morning.

“We arrested the gentleman because [Waltham Police] issued a warrant. We had no particulars about the case,” said Clinton Police Chief Mark Laverdure. “We had absolutely nothing to do with the investigation at all.”

According to Waltham Police, Spencer’s was a case of mistaken identity.

“What happened was we had received info at the time of the bank robbery that it was” Spencer, said Waltham Police Lt. Brian Navin.

Spencer formerly lived in Waltham and was arrested by Waltham Police in 2002, according to court documents. Waltham Police declined to state why he was arrested in 2002.

Police presented photographs of Spencer from his previous arrest to the bank teller to whom the suspect, a while man, had passed a note stating “Robbery!” and “No Dye Packs,” among other things.

The teller identified Spencer as the suspect, leading to his arrest.

“Based on that info, we went to District Court, sought and received a warrant for his arrest,” Navin said. “A subsequent investigation yielded info that he may in fact or probably was not the individual. ... We felt somebody else was responsible and he had a plausible alibi.”

Navin said that evidence from a July 19 bank robbery in Dedham was partially the reason Spencer was no longer considered a suspect. Spencer was in Waltham District Court when the Dedham robbery occurred.

“We had another robbery with the very same type of note the same day [Spencer] was in court. It was identical to the one used in the Waltham,” Navin said. “Based on that, we went to the district attorney with exculpatory evidence and we told them it was a case of mistaken identity on part of the teller. We requested charges be dropped.”

For Spencer, he feels the investigation leading to his arrest was not thorough.

“The whole thing that really irritated me is when they did this picture array. This guy had a hat and glasses on. When they showed [the bank teller] the photo array, it’s no glasses, no hat,” Spencer said. “That girl said that I did it. That’s why they arrested me and I didn’t do it. ... That’s the thing that really irked me. I can see mistakes happening, but when they are looking at a five- or six-year-old picture.”

Mark Freeman, Spencer’s attorney, has maintained Spencer’s innocence throughout his case.

“My client was very definite about where he had been that day and what he was doing and where he was,” Freeman said. “On July 10, fortunately, he was working and people could confirm that he was in Brookline.”

Freeman said he created a timeline of where and when Spencer had been during the July 10 robbery, complete with names and phone numbers of witnesses. He then gave that information to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.

“For me, in developing information and witnesses and facts and preparation, I saw what to me was clear evidence of his innocence,” said Freeman. “In this particular case I made a decision to share that info with the Middlesex District Attorney’s office rather then wait for a trial.”

Area robberies and attempted bank robberies, which primarily targeted Citizens Bank branches, began June 30 in Waltham and others have been reported in cities and towns including Arlington, Dedham, Waltham, Newton, Watertown, Stoughton and Marlborough by similarly described suspects, white men between 20 and 30 wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Dedham Police charged Errol Sullivan, 32, of 22A Adams St., with the July 19 robbery of the Eastern Bank in the Dedham Mall and two other robberies, a June 30 heist of Citizens Bank at 1084 Lexington St. in Waltham and a July 27 holdup of the Bank of America at 35 Washington St. in Wellesley.

Sullivan was originally arrested Aug. 2 by Providence Police working with Massachusetts State Police, the FBI and local police in connection with a July 25 robbery at Sovereign Bank at 1045 Trapelo Road in Waltham.

On Friday, FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz declined to say whether authorities believe Sullivan to be responsible for the July 10 robbery Spencer was originally accused of.

(Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jgilbrid@cnc.com.)