Newtown Mobil—

Police Probe Nighttime Robbery On Church Hill Road

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week police are continuing their investigation into a reported armed robbery of a Church Hill Road gas station, which occurred just after 2 am on Saturday, April 3.

Police Patrol Officer Robert Haas responded to a report that an armed robbery had occurred at 2:08 am at Newtown Mobil, a gas station and convenience store at 62 Church Hill Road, near the corner of that street and Commerce Road. The gas station also is near Exit 10 of Interstate 84.

Police said that when they arrived at the gas station, the male robber had already fled the area carrying an “undetermined amount of cash,” which he had stolen in the incident at the 24-hour gas station.

“No weapon was shown, although [the possession of] one was implied, and the attendant was not injured,” police said in a brief statement on the incident.

Police conducted a search of the immediate area near the gas station with the aid of the Brookfield Police Department’s police dog, but no suspect for the crime was found, according to police.

Police are asking for assistance from the public in solving the crime. People with information on the incident are asked to contact the police detective unit at 203-426-5841.

Police described the circumstances of the crime.

A lone, white male, who weighs approximately 140–145 pounds and is about 5-foot, 9-inches, or 5-foot, 10-inches tall, entered the convenience store and then demanded money from the male store clerk. The robber then walked behind the store counter and was handed an undetermined amount of cash by the clerk, police said.

Police said that the robber was wearing cargo-style shorts, which were either blue or gray, black sneakers, and a white T-shirt, plus a hooded, lightweight, waist-length jacket that bore a hunting camouflage pattern. (See surveillance photo.)

“We’re very concerned,” Chief Kehoe said of the robbery. He said it is unclear whether or not the robber actually had a weapon at the time of the incident. The police declined to say whether the robber had indicated what type of weapon may have been concealed.

“It’s enough to create fear,” Chief Kehoe said, referring to a legal aspect of the crime of robbery.

The ongoing police probe of the incident has been turned over to the police detective unit, according to the police chief.

Detective Sergeant John Cole, who heads the police detective unit, said April 7 that police have no suspects in the robbery, adding that police do not know who committed the felony.

“We are actively investigating the case and [are] looking for help from the public,” he said. It is the first time that the Mobil station on Church Hill Road has been the target of a robbery, he said.

Robbery is a relatively rare crime locally. The last gas station robbery that occurred in town, which remains unsolved, took place on Halloween night in 2006.

In that incident, two males brandishing handguns and threatening violence made off with an unspecified amount of cash in an armed robbery at what was then Buzz’s Mobil gas station/convenience store at 286 South Main Street in Botsford.