Cranston police chief Michael J. Winquist announced this week the arrest of Samuel Vazquez, 31, of 243 Washington Street (1st floor) in Providence. Vazquez is charged with committing a series of armed robberies of convenience stores across Cranston over the past few weeks.

He has been charged with three counts of First Degree Robbery, Assault with Intent to Commit Specified Felonies, and Reckless Driving.

Patrol officers and detectives were deployed throughout the city on Friday night and early Saturday morning in an attempt to apprehend a subject who had committed a series of armed robberies of convenience stores over the previous two weeks.

At approximately 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 16, an attempted armed robbery was reported by employees of the Dunkin Donuts restaurant located at 630 Reservoir Avenue. The employees reported that a subject wearing a hooded sweatshirt, gloves and a mask, brandishing a firearm entered the business and ordered them to turn over the money from the register. The employees did not comply and called 911, at which time the subject fled from the area.

Responding officers and detectives began to check the immediate area, as well as the area of other businesses that operate during the early morning hours.

At approximately 4:30 a.m., an alert patrol officer observed a vehicle slowly pull inside a self-car wash bay of the Classic Car Wash located at 1125 Cranston St. The vehicle stopped inside the bay and the operator turned out the vehicle’s lights. The officer noted that the vehicle matched the description of the vehicle used in a series of armed robberies that had recently occurred. As the officer began to approach in his patrol vehicle, the suspect vehicle quickly exited onto Puritan Avenue and pulled into a driveway of a nearby residence.

When the officer spoke with the driver, identified as Vazquez, he stated that his girlfriend resided at the Puritan Avenue address. It was quickly determined that Vazquez was not associated with anyone who resided at the address, at which time he was taken into custody for Reckless Driving, as well as a suspect in the attempted armed robbery at the Dunkin Donuts.

Court authorized search warrants were later executed for Vazquez’s vehicle and his residence, which resulted in the seizure of evidence linking him to attempted armed robbery at the Dunkin Donuts, as well as three armed robberies of convenience stores in the city of Cranston, which occurred on June 2nd (7-11 store located at 535 Reservoir Avenue), June 9th (7-11 store located 535 Reservoir Avenue), and June 9th (Elmwood Mobile located at 1282 Elmwood Avenue).

The evidence seized includes an air soft gun found in the vehicle, which is believed to be the implement the suspect used to commit the aforementioned robberies and attempted robbery. Cranston Police Detectives are actively working with Providence Police Detectives who are investigating similar armed robberies in their city.

On June 16, Vazquez was arraigned by a Justice of the Peace at Cranston Police Headquarters and ordered held without bail pending formal arraignment in Third District Court on Monday morning.

“This arrest is yet another example of excellent police work performed by members of the Cranston Police Department who made the apprehension of this suspect the highest priority over the last two weeks,” said Colonel Winquist in a statement. “The keenly observant patrol officer, combined with a thorough investigation by detectives, has ended a spree of dangerous and brazen crimes, which likely would have continued to endanger employees of our business community and the public at large.”