A Bridgeport man accused of the gun-point robbery of a River Road convenience store last Christmas Eve will also face charges in the stickup of a liquor store, police said.
Shelton Police Lt. Robert Kozlowsky said Friday (Feb. 20) that detectives had obtained an arrest warrant charging 33-year-old Valentine Rodriguez, in the Dec. 16 robbery of Cleto’s Wine Spirits & Ale at 402 Howe Ave.
Rodriguez was already charged with the Dec. 24 robbery of the Cumberland Farms at 819 River Road.
Now his brother, 30-year-old Jonathan Rodriguez, is also charged in connection to the Cleto’s robbery.
The Cleto’s robbery was reported about 8:45 p.m. Dec. 16, police said in a prepared statement.
Police said two men entered the store — one displaying a gun and another displaying a knife — and grabbed money and bottles of liquor before fleeing.
Eight days later, about 1:15 a.m. on Christmas Eve, Valentine Rodriguez was arrested after Officer Philip Norris pulled into the Cumberland Farms at 819 River Road and was flagged down by customers who said a person was inside robbing the store.
Rodriguez fled from the store with Norris in pursuit, firing his gun at one point, though it is unclear whether the shot was directed at police or accidental.
Rodriguez eventually surrendered to police after Officer David Eldridge found him hiding in the woods.
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After Valentine Rodriguez’s arrest, police compared the two cases and determined they were connected, Kozlowsky said, “based on surveillance video and then an investigation by detectives.”
That investigation eventually led to the Feb. 11 arrest of Samantha Cruz-Palarino, 25, an “acquaintance” of the Rodriguez brothers who police said acted as the getaway driver in both stickups.
Kozlowsky said Cruz-Palarino and Valentine Rodriguez’s brother, Jonathan Rodriguez, 30, waited in a car outside Cleto’s during the Dec. 16 heist as Valentine and another man robbed the store.
Cruz-Palarino and Valentine Rodriguez were the only suspects involved in the Cumberland Farms robbery, Kozlowsky said.
Cruz-Palarino faces charges of two counts each of first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, as well as single counts of sixth-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit sixth-degree larceny, third-degree larceny, and conspiracy to commit third-degree larceny.
She is currently being held on bonds totaling $300,000 and is scheduled to appear at Superior Court in Derby March 3.
Jonathan Rodriguez was charged Friday with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, third-degree larceny, and conspiracy to commit third-degree larceny in the Cleto’s stickup.
He was held on $75,000 bond and is scheduled to appear at Superior Court in Derby Monday (Feb. 23), police said.
Valentine Rodriguez is being held on $250,000 bond in connection with the Cumberland Farms robbery, and will be formally charged in the Cleto’s stickup once police arrange for Correction Department officials to transport him to Superior Court in Derby.
Valentine Rodriguez’s next court date in the Cumberland Farms heist will be Feb. 26 at Superior Court in Milford, according to the Judicial Branch website.
