String of Queens robberies believed linked to Long Island spree

HOWARD BEACH, Queens (WABC) -- Police are looking for a suspect in a series of knife-point robberies in Queens that follow the same pattern as 17 incidents on Long Island, and police believe they are all linked.

The first city incident happened around 1 p.m. on May 11, when a suspect went into a Carvel on Metropolitan Avenue with a knife. The suspect told the employee to open the cash register, and then took the register tray that contained $500 in cash.

A Dunkin' Donuts was also robbed around 11:30 p.m. on May 23, as was another location on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach just before midnight on May 25. The suspect made off with more than $600 in cash in both instances.

"It's horrible, horrible," Howard Beach resident James Matrochano said. "It's crazy."

The NYPD says the pattern matches 13 robberies in Nassau County and four more in Suffolk from March 1 through May 18, and they believe these incidents are all being committed by the same person.

Nassau has 13 knifepoint commercial robberies in this pattern between March 1 and Ma

The suspect is described as a black male in his 30s, standing 5-foot-7 to 6-feet tall and weighting approximately 170 pounds, last seen wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark-colored hat, scarf bandanna covering his face, sunglasses, gloves, and new tan work boots.

In Nassau County, the suspect wore two different sneakers. One was black and white, and the other multicolored. He was also seen wearing different gloves, one black and one white.

The FBI is now investigating.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).