Police Investigating Possible Connection In Masked, Armed Robberies

After three armed robberies, with culprits all wearing masks, in recent weeks, Riverhead police are investigating the possibility that the same individuals could be involved in all the holdups.

"We're looking into the possibility," Riverhead Detective Sergeant Joseph Loggia said Tuesday.

Over the past month, two armed robberies, with the culprits wearing masks, have taken place in Riverhead, with one similar incident occurring in Riverside on Halloween night.

Loggia said while the Riverside incident is being handled by Southampton Town Police, the two Riverhead incidents are being investigated with the possibility of the two crimes having been perpetuated by the same individuals.

Last Wednesday, three men wearing masks, one with a handgun, held up  held up Barth's Drug Store on East Main Street in Riverhead.

Riverhead Town Police said on Wednesday at 5:59 p.m., three suspects wearing masks, one armed with a handgun, entered the store and demanded cash and prescription drugs from employees. The three suspects then fled through the rear of the store with an unknown amount of proceeds.

On Oct. 20, brandishing handguns and wearing masks, two suspects held up a Riverhead Halloween store, police said.

Riverhead Town police said that on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 9:49 p.m., officers responded to Spirit Halloween, located at 1107 Old Country Road, to respond to reports of an armed robbery.

The manager of Spirit Halloween told police that two subjects wearing masks entered the store with handguns and removed at least hundreds of dollars from the registers.

The masks, police say, were not Halloween masks.

The suspects then fled the location in a southerly direction across the parking lot. 

And on Halloween, a Riverside gas station attendant found himself being accosted by armed gunmen wearing Halloween masks.

Southampton Town Police Detective Sergeant Lisa Costa told reporters on Monday that three men armed with handguns and wearing Halloween masks entered the Valero gas station on Ludlam Avenue in Riverside at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 31.

The gunmen, Costa said, "accosted the clerk," who was not injured, and stole $270 in cash from the store's cash drawer, also trying to rob the clerk personally.

Loggia said it is impossible to "say for sure" if the two Riverhead incidents are related yet.

Anyone with information on the robberies is asked to call Riverhead Police at 631-727-4500 or 800-220-TIPS. Information on the Riverside robbery should be called in to Southampton Town Police, 631-728-5000.