A man wearing a motorcycle helmet and armed with a black semiautomatic handgun robbed another man at gunpoint inside his home Monday on Melcher Drive in Bingham, police said.

The victim waited four hours before calling police because that’s what the robber told him to do, Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said Tuesday. The robbery reportedly happened about 10 a.m. Monday and the victim called police at 2 p.m., Lancaster said, adding “you could infer that harm might come to you” if the robber’s instructions weren’t followed.

The victim told police he answered a knock on his front door Monday morning and was confronted by a heavyset man, approximately 6 feet, 4 inches tall, wearing a motorcycle helmet with a dark visor down and a black leather jacket.

The robber showed a handgun and ordered the man to empty his pockets and stole the money from the victim’s wallet, Lancaster said. The robber then entered the house and reportedly took an undisclosed amount of cash and pills before leaving on foot.

“The suspect told the victim to wait four hours before calling anyone,” the sheriff said.

Lancaster would not say what drugs were taken in the robbery and would not comment if he thought the men knew each other.

“We’re early into the investigation,” Lancaster said. “We’ve asked the public for help if they saw anyone fitting that description in the area at that time, and we’re also looking into relationships for possible suspects.”

The robbery was the third in the past two weeks reported to the sheriff’s office.

In Skowhegan on Monday, a Shell service station attendant was struck and knocked to the ground in a strong-arm robbery on Madison Avenue. That 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 station attendant was struck with an object and taken to a local hospital by private vehicle.

Lancaster said police are investigating any similarities between the gas station robbery and the Bingham robbery.

On June 28, a Skowhegan man was arrested a day after an employee of Stony Brook Market on U.S. Route 2 saw him approaching the store about 8 p.m. wearing a mask and hooded sweatshirt, became suspicious, locked him out of the store, then called police. Joshua Jason Johnson, 28, of Skowhegan, was arrested on charges of criminal attempted robbery, a Class C felony, and criminal attempted theft, a misdemeanor.

Detective Michael Ross responded and is the lead investigator on the Bingham case.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office asked that anyone with information regarding the Bingham robbery to call the Detective Division or Detective Michael Ross at 207-858-9530.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow

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