City man charged with robbing station
Police said the suspect told a gas station clerk he had a gun.
» A convicted felon who spent at least six years in prison for armed robbery was arrested Monday evening after allegedly robbing the Happy Car Gas station on Water Street, according to police and court documents.
At about 6:45 p.m. Monday, police were dispatched to the gas station on a report it had just been robbed by one man who fled on foot, the reporting officer said.
When officers arrived, the station’s manager, an 18-year-old, told the officers that he was sitting at a desk inside the building when a man, later learned to be Michael Mack, 31, of Patton Street, Fitchburg, wearing a black sweatshirt and red bandanna entered the office and walked up behind him, stuck something in his side and said, “I have a gun, don’t try anything… get all the money… and get your hands up,” the officer reported.
After handing Mack the contents of the cash register, Mack pushed the manager into a backroom and told him to open the safe, but the manager told Mack he didn’t have the combination, the officer reported.
At that point, Mack told the manager to get on the ground and not move for five minutes,” the officer reported.
While one of the officers was speaking with the manager, he learned that another responding officer had Mack already in custody, the officer reported.
The officer who took Mack into custody was basing his decision on the description by the manager and several area homeowners who called 911 to report a suspicious man, wearing all black, in the area of Albee Street, the officer reported.
As another officer was responding to the scene, he spotted a man fitting Mack’s description walking on Albee Street and when he turned his cruiser around, Mack began running, ending up at 137 Albee St. where he ran directly into another responding officer, who pointed at him and told him to get on the ground and took him into custody, the officer reported.
Just prior to being taken into custody, a resident of another Albee Street residence had already called 911 to report a man, wearing all black and using a red bandanna as a mask, running into a shed on an abandoned property, the officer reported.
That witness told police the man was warned to leave because he was trespassing at which time the man, Mack, walked out of the shed back toward Albee Street, the officer reported.
When officers checked the shed, they found a large amount of money, later learned to be over $650, a pepper spray can and a Taser, the officer reported.
After a positive identification of Mack by the Happy Car Gas station manager, Mack was charged with armed robbery, the officer reported.
When arraigned on Tuesday, Mack, who pleaded not guilty, was ordered held without bail pending the outcome of a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Friday, according to court documents.
Included in the officer’s report was Mack previous conviction for armed robbery.
The officer found that Mack was arraigned in February 2014 in Worcester Superior Court for armed robbery and found guilty in 2017. He was sentenced to six to seven years in prison, the officer reported.