AUGUSTA — A local teenager facing civil rights charges that he threatened a Cony High School employee was one of two men arrested this week in connection with recent robberies of two city pharmacies.

Carmine Fazzi, 18, of Augusta, is facing two counts of robbery for his role in holdups at the Stone Street CVS on Feb. 13 and the North Belfast Avenue Rite Aid on Feb. 20, Augusta police said Friday.

Fazzi was arrested on Monday by police in New York on an unrelated assault charge there, said Augusta Police Lt. Detective Keith Brann. Fazzi, who was subsequently charged as a fugitive, is being held at the Westchester County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail for the assault charge and without bail on charge of being a fugitive from justice.

Augusta police on Monday arrested Daniel Rines, 18, of Pittston, and charged him with one count of robbery, Brann said. Rines was subsequently released from the Augusta police department on $500 unsecured bail. Among Rines’ bail conditions is an order to stay away from Fazzi and the Rite Aid pharmacy.

Police said they’re still investigating and believe others were involved in the robberies.

“There definitely are going to be more people charged,” Brann said.

The pharmacy robberies took place a week apart at stores separated by less than a mile. In each case, two men demanded prescription medication from the clerk working in the pharmacy. The men in both robberies were described as being in their teens or early 20s.

Brann said Fazzi was one of the two men who robbed the CVS and Rite Aid. Police are still searching for the person with Fazzi in each instance. Brann said detectives are trying to determine if there was just one other person involved, or more.

Rines did not enter either store during the robberies, said Detective Jason Cote.

“He cooperated and admitted he was the driver in the Rite Aid robbery,” Cote said.

Augusta police Lt. Christopher Massey said at the time of the Rite Aid robbery that the men entered the pharmacy at 2007 North Belfast Ave. about 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 20 and passed a note to a pharmacy employee that said they had a weapon and demanding prescription medication.

The robbers were given drugs — the information on how much or what kind hasn’t been released — and they fled on foot south across the parking lot. No one was hurt, Massey said.

On Feb. 14, two men held up a CVS pharmacy at 2 Stone St., which is a little more than a half-mile from the North Belfast Avenue Rite Aid. At around 6:40 p.m., two men demanded prescription medication and were given a large amount of OxyContin before they fled on foot. The men indicated they had a gun, but none was shown, according to police.

Brann said Friday that Cote, Detective Sgt. Matthew Clark and Detective Brian Wastella identified Fazzi as a suspect early in the investigation.

“We’ve known for quite some time who our suspect was, but it took some time to put it together,” Brann said. “We’ve had to dig and claw for every little thing. These guys did a fantastic job.”

On a Facebook page, Fazzi lists Glock handguns and Percocet as two of his interests. The lone picture on his social-networking page is that of a blue pill. Fazzi’s last entry on the site was Monday, just a few hours before his arrest.

“Rats!,” Fazzi wrote. “Believe me y’all (messed) up big time. Do the smart thing and end (your) own life before somebody else does.”

Assault in New York

Fazzi was one of three men arrested Monday by Greenburgh, N.Y., police and charged with assault. The men allegedly attacked a tow truck driver during a dispute about a towed vehicle, said Greenburgh Police Lt. Joseph Ryan.

The victim said the three men — including Fazzi and two 21-year-olds, from Pennsylvania and New Jersey — dragged him out of the tow truck and punched and kicked him, according to Ryan.

“The victim sustained injuries to his head, face and torso, none of which are deemed to be serious in nature,” Ryan said.

Fazzi was expected to appear in Greenburgh court on Friday.

Ryan said Fazzi will not be extradited back to Maine until he has completed the legal proceedings in New York.

“He’s not going anywhere until this case has been adjudicated,” Ryan said. “I don’t believe that will be any time soon.”

High school trouble

Fazzi also is facing civil litigation in Maine in connection with threats he made against an educational technician at Cony High School. He allegedly made derogatory remarks about the technician’s sexual orientation and threatened to hurt him during a confrontation in September 2009.

Fazzi enrolled in the Cony Behavioral Intervention program that month and was monitored at all times by school staff. He also was banned from being in certain areas of the school. The technician reportedly confronted Fazzi when he ventured into one of those forbidden areas. Fazzi allegedly backed the technician against a wall and verbally threatened him, including the use of epithets, bringing his finger within a couple inches of the staff-member’s face.

Fazzi, after meeting with the principal the next day and being suspended, reportedly went to the ed tech’s classroom and threatened to kill him.

Fazzi pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined $100 and ordered to complete 20 hours of community service. Because of the alleged references to the technician’s sexual orientation and derogatory remarks Fazzi made about homosexuals in general, the Maine attorney general’s office filed a civil suit in Kennebec County Superior Court to secure a permanent injunction banning Fazzi from similar behavior in the future.

Fazzi did not appear at a hearing on that matter held in January 2011, but Justice Michaela Murphy granted a temporary injunction after concluding that Fazzi’s behavior violated the technician’s civil rights.

A hearing on a permanent injunction is still pending.

Craig Crosby — 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

Copy the Story Link