7-Eleven, Dunkin’ Donuts robberies may be connected, cops say
Nassau County police said Thursday they are trying to determine whether recent robberies in Plainview and Old Bethpage by a man wielding a large knife are part of a pattern that dates back more than a year.
A police spokesman said the two robberies — of a Plainview Dunkin’ Donuts on Monday and an Old Bethpage 7-Eleven early Thursday — are being studied to see if they were committed by the same suspect wanted in a string of more than 20 such acts since Feb 9, 2015.
“They are looking at them to see if they are a part of that pattern,” a police spokesman said Thursday. “It’s part of the investigation.”
From Feb. 9, 2015, to mid-January of this year, the hooded, knife-wielding man, usually hiding behind a ski mask or scarf, robbed 21 small businesses — mostly gas stations and convenience stores.
Those robberies occurred in seven Nassau communities, including 13 in Valley Stream, police said in January.
In a January news conference, Nassau Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun called the suspect “brazen and aggressive.” In one instance in February 2015, the suspect tussled with a Valley Stream convenience store owner, slashing him in the arm, LeBrun said.
In the latest robbery, on at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the 7-Eleven on Old Bethpage Road, the suspect had a kitchen knife and wore a dark-colored hooded jacket, hat and sunglasses, with a dark-colored bandanna covering his face.
He took an unspecified amount of cash from the lone store employee, who was not injured, police said.
Police have described the suspect as thin, between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet tall, and known to wear gloves and white-soled sneakers, police said.
On Monday, a similar robbery happened at about 11:30 p.m. at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Old Country Road in Plainview.
The suspect, his face covered by a scarf, displayed a large kitchen knife, grabbed a 41-year-old female employee’s arm and demanded she open the register, police said.
The suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot, police said. The woman was not injured.
Anyone with more information can call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-8477. All information will be kept confidential.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
