Police have arrested a man who was wanted in connection with 16 robberies carried out over the course of 11 days in Brooklyn and Queens, including two in a day at the same gas station, and others just minutes apart at businesses on the same street. So far, police are only charging August Watkins, 30, of Sunnyside, Queens with one count of first degree robbery for allegedly sticking up a Subway restaurant on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City on the afternoon of April 3rd.
Officers are still investigating the other 15 robberies, which took place from March 26th to April 5th in Jackson Heights, Maspeth, Rego Park, Ozone Park, Corona, Elmhurst, Richmond Hill, Sunnyside, Greenpoint, and East Williamsburg.
Police reported that one BP gas station, on Eliot Avenue in Maspeth, was robbed once at 2 a.m. on March 28th, then again at 2:25 p.m. on the same day. The following day, police said a deli on Woodhaven Boulevard in Rego Park was robbed at 1:40 p.m., then 17 minutes later, a 7-Eleven eight blocks away on the same road. The suspect also purportedly hit up a pharmacy, a vape store, a liquor store, and a Dunkin Donuts.
In each incident, the perpetrator simulated having a gun and cleared out the cash register, according to the NYPD. CBS2 reports that the culprit netted $13,171 in cash and around $91 in cigarettes.
Information on Watkins's attorney was not immediately available.
