Pier 1 Imports robbery fits pattern of heists in Suffolk, Nassau, police say

Nassau and Suffolk police Monday said several holdups since August fit a pattern in which a masked gunman forces employees to open safes or cash registers and often binds the victims, including store customers, with zip ties.

The most recent robbery took place at 7 p.m. Sunday at a Pier 1 Imports, 7 E. Jericho Tpke., police said.

Suffolk detectives with the pattern crime unit said a masked gunman forced employees and customers to the rear of the store. He then forced an employee to open the store's safe and removed cash from the register drawers.

He tied up the two employees and two customers before leaving with an unspecified amount of cash, police said.

Detectives said similar robberies occurred in Suffolk at Rainbow Shops in Lindenhurst on Nov. 2, New York & Company in West Babylon on Oct. 12, and two Avenue clothing stores -- one in Farmingdale on Sept. 7 and another at a North Babylon location on Oct. 26. In the robberies on Sept. 7, Oct. 12 and Nov. 2, victims or employees were tied up, according to police.

The most recent Nassau robbery took place last Tuesday in Carle Place, when a gunman posing as a cleaner pulled a handgun at a maternity shop and bound two employees with zip ties.

An unspecified amount of cash was stolen from Destination Maternity at 120 Glen Cove Rd., police said.

The robber also ordered the employees to open a cash register and safe.

On Oct. 8, a gunman tied up four people at a Joyce Leslie store, also on Glen Cove Road in Carle Place, and made off with money and personal property, Nassau police said.

He bound two employees and two customers and took victims' belongings and money from the register.

On Oct. 5, a gunman robbed a Mandee clothing store at 1976 Hempstead Tpke. in East Meadow, tying together the hands of two employees and two customers, then escaping with an unspecified amount of cash.

A North New Hyde Park Dress Barn at 1700 Lakeville Rd., was robbed on Sept. 17 and a Westbury Torrid clothing store on Old Country Road was held up on Sept. 15., police said.

Two holdups occurred in August, one at a Dollar Tree, 3767 Hempstead Tpke., in Levittown and another on Aug. 20 at a Hicksville Petco, 265 N. Broadway, according to Nassau police.

With Laura Figueroa