Alleged Stratford holdup man extradited from New Jersey

BRIDGEPORT — A New York has been charged with the October gunpoint robberies of an AT&T store and a Dunkin’ Donuts in Stratford.

Jayson Stovall, 23, was extradited from New Jersey where police said he had been hospitalized after getting into a crash with his rented getaway car.

He was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count each of carrying a pistol without a permit and fourth-degree larceny.

During Stovall’s arraignment hearing Wednesday afternoon Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Bove urged Superior Court Judge Peter McShane to set a high bond for Stovall because of the seriousness of the allegations.

Stovall’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Anne Marie Findley appealed for leniency for her client but the judge said he was concerned about Stovall’s lack of link to this community and ordered him held in lieu of $175,000 bond. He continued the case to Jan. 23.

According to Stratford police, on Oct. 8, officers were dispatched to the AT&T store on Broad Street for a report of a robbery.

Police said an employee had been locking the store’s door for the lunch break when a masked man, wearing a black sweatsuit and white gloves, pointed a handgun at the employee and forced him to open the door.

The masked man put the gun to the employees back and forced the employee to lead him to the cash register, police said. They said the robber removed $800 from the cash register and then ordered the employee to open the safe where cell phones were kept.

When the employee told the robber the safe was on a time lock and could not be opened, police said the robber instead took the employee’s cell phone and fled the store.

Police said later that same day officers were dispatched to the Dunkin’ Donuts on Access Road for a robbery.

Police said shortly after 8 p.m. a masked man in a black sweatsuit had pointed a handgun at employees and ordered them to hand over the cash in the cash register. The robber took $600 and then herded the employees into the rear kitchen area where he took their cell phones before fleeing.

Police said they identified the getaway vehicle used in both crimes as a Hyundai sports utility vehicle that had been rented from Enterprise Rental Company by Stovall’s mother, a school security officer for the New York Police Department.

Stovall’s mother later identified images of the robber from surveillance video as being her son, police said. She told detectives that her son had been involved in a serious car accident in Camden N.J. and was currently hospitalized there, police said. They notified Camden police and Stovall was taken into custody at the hospital.