April 30, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Two men plus a getaway driver have been burglarizing gas stations throughout Queens and have stolen thousands in cash and products.
The pair first broke into a Long Island City gas station on March 26 by throwing a rock through the front door sometime during the night, police said. They took off with cash and scratch-offs and returned for more the next week.
On April 4, they picked the lock of the same Mobil Gas Station, located at 35-15 Greenpoint Ave., around 10:40 p.m. and grabbed additional items, police said. Between both runs, the men stole more than $2,400 in scratch-offs, $2,000 in over-the-counter medicine, $250 in phone cards, $200 in cash and $60 in grooming items.
The two men on both occasions hopped in a Dodge Ram truck, driven by a third man who served as getaway driver.
The men targeted a number of gas stations and stores the night of April 4 and into the early hours April 5.
Earlier the same evening at about 10:20 p.m., the men picked the lock of another gas station in Astoria, Mobil Gas Station at 44-02 Astoria Blvd, police said. They grabbed $500 in cash, multiple cigarette cartons worth more than $7,800 and various e-cigarette items worth more than $1,000.
They sped off in the waiting Dodge Ram.
The group hit a third gas station in Kew Garden Hills that same night at about 11:50 p.m. The two men picked the lock of BP Gas Station, located at 154-11 Horace Harding Expressway, and took a box of e-cigarettes, valued at $200, police said. They again fled the scene in the Dodge Ram truck.
The men then broke into a Bayside grocery store in the early morning hours of April 5. They picked the lock of the store at 208-24 Cross Island Parkway and removed an undetermined amount of food items once inside. They left in the same Dodge Ram truck, police said.
Anyone with information in regard to the identities of these males is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.