Lynbrook man arrested for armed robbery at V.S. gas station

Lynbrook police arrested a Lynbrook man last night for using a gun to hold up the Valero gas station on Sunrise Highway.

According to police, Andrew Alonge, 25, of Wood Street, entered the gas station, at 192 E. Sunrise Highway, brandished a black handgun and demanded money from two male clerks. He took cash and a cell phone and fled east on Sunrise Highway, police said.

A detective with the Lynbrook Police Department heard a notification about the robbery and responded to the area, where he spotted Alonge at Scranton Avenue and High Street and arrested him, two and a half blocks from the gas station. The proceeds from the robbery and the gun were recovered.

No injuries were reported.

Alonge was charged with second-degree robbery. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Alonge has an arrest record for robbery going back to 2009, as reported in the Herald. He was arrested in September 2009 at 19 for using a black BB gun to rob the Kim Wong Chinese Kitchen, at 529 W. Merrick Rd. in Valley Stream, with two co-defendants. Alonge was also charged with two prior robberies, one a month earlier at a Lynbrook gas station, in which a knife was used, and another at the USA Gas Station, at 562 W. Merrick Rd. in Valley Stream, the day before his September 8 arrest. Alonge was charged with three counts of first-degree robbery.

Alonge was again arrested in April 2010, when he was 20. Police said that he and five other men robbed a 33-year-old man who was walking in Franklin Square. One of the defendants reportedly yanked a gold chain from the victim’s neck after they demanded money and the victim said he didn’t have any. Alonge and his co-defendants were each charged with second-degree robbery.

Police did not immediately confirm whether Alonge was convicted of his prior charges.

According to Alonge’s Facebook page, he is a former Valley Stream resident who attended Central High School for a period of time. He listed his favorite quote: “Money commin money goin aint like you can take it wit ya!”

The incident happened less than two weeks after the same gas station was robbed on Jan. 17. Police attributed that crime to the suspect who has used a long kitchen knife to rob at least 21 businesses in the area in the last year, 16 of them in Valley Stream.

A 19-year-old clerk at the station, who declined to give his name, was present for both robberies. He said he is on edge. "I'm scared," he said. "Everybody looks like a thief."

--Mary Malloy contributed to this report--