City man charged with armed robbery
One of two suspects eyed in rash of crimes
One of two men suspected in a rash of convenience store robberies in the area over the last several months was arraigned in district court Monday on two counts of armed robbery related to robberies in early January at two city businesses, according to police and court documents.
On Jan. 6, police believe Daniel Serrano, 36, of 157 Mt. Vernon St., Fitchburg, and Ramon Roman, 37, of Blossom Street, robbed the Honey Farms convenience store on Merriam Avenue and on Jan. 8 the Shell gas station on Lancaster Street, according to the investigation into the incidents.
The Jan. 6 robbery was only one of several robberies in the area that occurred in Auburn, Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster and Sterling. In each case,the pair matched the descriptions of those suspected as pulling off the heists, according to court documents.
During the investigation, several search warrants were executed, one on Blossom Street in Fitchburg that recovered items believed to be items worn by the suspects while committing the robberies and two black airsoft handguns.
Those items included a knit cap with a Patriots’ logo, a pair of black and red Guess sneakers, a
sweatshirt worn by one of the suspects, and the fake handguns, according to the documents.
It was the cap, Guess sneakers and sweatshirt that led investigators to believe Serrano committed the robberies at the Honey Farms and Shell because videorecordings of the suspects robbing the stores clearly showed that Serrano, who is about five inches shorter than Roman, was one of the men was wearing those items, according to the documents.
Investigators also identified the getaway car, an Infiniti, leaving the scenes of several of the robberies, including one in Sterling. The car was tracked back to where Serrano was living in Fitchburg where it was towed and searched by several police departments conducting their own investigations, court documents state.
In the video recordings of the robberies, there was pattern the police detected
in which Roman enters the store and Serrano, who brandishes the weapon, follows him in before, usually, telling the store clerk to hand over the cash in the register before fleeing, according to the documents.
While Leominster was conducting its investigation into the robberies, detectives with the Auburn Police Department were also attempting to develop suspects after a robbery on Jan. 25 at the Xpress Stop, 321 Southbridge St., according to the investigation, which continues with all of the departments where the robberies occurred.
Roman was not charged in the Xpress Stop robbery, according to court documents.
When investigating the Auburn robbery, a latent fingerprint was picked up off a bottle of orange juice that matched Serrano, court documents state.
As a result, on Feb. 3 the State Police’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section took him into custody in Fitchburg, where he was booked, and then taken to
Auburn also for processing, according to the investigation.
When arraigned in Worcester District Court, Serrano was ordered held without bail after being found dangerous at a dangerousness hearing, according to court documents.
In Fitchburg, Serrano has two outstanding warrants for his arrest for allegedly robbing the Honey Land on Summer Street on Jan. 17 and the ABS Gas & Oil on Lunenburg Street on Jan. 20, according to court documents.
Serrano has not been arraigned on those charges.
Roman currently has three warrants for his arrest for also allegedly robbing those two stores and another, which was not noted. He has also not been arraigned on those charges.
When Serrano was arraigned Monday in Leominster District Court, he was also ordered held without bail and ordrered to return to court on Thursday for a dangerousness hearing, according to court documents.