Police have arrested a man accused of robbing a Robeks smoothie shop, then a Subway sandwich shop three hours later during what he told police was a “drug induced binge.”
Police said Gregory Curtner, 48, robbed Robeks in the Fairway shopping complex at 771 Canal Street in Stamford at 5 p.m. on Saturday, then returned to the plaza at 8 p.m. and robbed the Subway sandwich shop nearby.
In both cases, he pretended to have a gun, demanded money and left toward Henry Street. Staff at both shops described the man as tall, 40 to 50 years old, with a medium to skinny building and wrinkles.
He was wearing blue jeans and a hoodie in the Robeks robbery and blue jeans and a black jacket in the Subway robbery, police said.
Police followed up on information that a man fitting that description entered a rooming house at 41 Ludlow St. and went to a second-floor room to questioned the man.
Curtner barricaded himself into the room, threatened suicide and eventually emerged from the room with cuts on both wrists from a suicide attempt, police said.
Curtner was transported to Stamford Hospital for treatment and “made some admissions to being involved in the robberies,” while speaking with police and being transported, police said.
As police interviewed Curtner, he gave a voluntary statement in which he took responsibility for both robberies and said he was on a drug-induced binge and needed money to supply his drug habit, police said.
Curtner was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, third-degree criminal mischief and interfering with police.
Bond was set at $150,000.
Police said Curtner was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Robeks and Subway robberies and charged for his involvement in the standoff and damage caused to a third party’s apartment, police said.
