SKOWHEGAN — A Shell service station attendant was struck and knocked to the ground in a strong-arm robbery early Monday on Madison Avenue, two weeks after another man was arrested for attempted armed robbery in town.
Skowhegan police Detective Sgt. Josh King said Monday’s robber took an undisclosed amount of cash from the Dead River Co. gas station at 124 Madison Ave. just before 6:20 a.m. Monday.
The employee, whose name King did not release, was taken by private vehicle to the hospital to be checked out, he said.
“We believe he was hit with something, but not a gun or a knife,” King said.
On June 28, a Skowhegan man was arrested a day after an employee of Stony Brook Market on U.S. Route 2 saw him outside wearing a mask and hooded sweatshirt, became suspicious, locked him out of the store, then called police.
In Monday’s robbery, the employee was alone, and the robber, a man dressed in a blue plaid shirt and wearing blue jeans, knocked the employee to the floor so he didn’t get a good idea of the robber’s height or weight.
King said a canvass of the area around the service station and Whit’s End Restaurant across the street was being conducted Monday to determine if anyone saw anything early Monday morning.
Melony Thomas, who replaced the worker who was assaulted at the station, said the robbery happened just before the store was to open at 7 a.m.
“We opened a little late,” she said. “They didn’t give us a lot of details on what happened.”
Store manager Tim Murray referred all questions to Dead River officials in Portland.
Lisa Morrissette, director of marketing at Dead River Co. in Portland, said only that the robber entered the service station and assaulted the employee. She referred all other questions to Skowhegan police.
There were no further details on the robbery Monday afternoon.
On June 28, Joshua Jason Johnson, 28, of Skowhegan, was arrested on charges of criminal attempted robbery, a Class C felony, and criminal attempted theft, a misdemeanor, after he was seen outside of Stony Brook Market wearing a mask and hooded sweatshirt and approaching the store about 8 p.m. The clerk, aware the man was concealing his face, locked the door “out of fear she was going to be robbed,” Police Chief Don Bolduc said at the time.
King said that Johnson was arrested after interviews with witnesses and a tip from a Solon resident to a state trooper. Police said their interviews revealed Johnson had a toy gun that he intended to use in the robbery.
Johnson was released on $5,000 cash bail on Friday.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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