Man arrested in North Babylon gas station robbery, police say

A man arrested after the knifepoint robbery of a North Babylon gas station is not connected to a recent string of area gas station robberies, police said Tuesday.

Eddie Fernandez, 29, of 8 Floyd St., North Babylon, was arrested minutes after robbing the Lukoil gas station on Bay Shore Road at 4:50 p.m. Monday, police said. That station was previously robbed on Nov. 29, but not by Fernandez, police said.

Fernandez was charged with first-degree robbery and with resisting arrest. He is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday in First District Court in Central Islip.

Police said Fernandez "is not connected" to a string of five prior gas station robberies in Deer Park and North Babylon, dating back to Nov. 26.

Police said that in the Monday robbery, Fernandez entered the Lukoil, displayed a knife, took cash and fled.

In some of the previous robberies, the suspect displayed a knife, police said. However, in some, a gun was used and in one last week two men, each wearing masks, robbed a Sunoco station on Deer Park Avenue in Deer Park at gunpoint.

That station also was robbed earlier, on Dec. 10, police said.

The other robberies include: an Ultra station on Deer Park Avenue on Nov. 26; the Lukoil station on Nov. 29; a Valero station on Bay Shore Road in Deer Park on Dec. 7, where the suspect fled on a bicycle; and a Dec. 10 robbery of the Sunoco station on Deer Park Avenue, which also was robbed on Dec. 22.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

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.”