Within the last two weeks, Public Safety has released two separate crime alerts. The earlier alert addressed another report of public lewdness and the most recent one warns of an the armed robbery that occurred last Saturday evening.
The robbery took place at around 9:30 pm at Pizza Bella, located on the corner of 14th Street and College Avenue, right across from Academy Hall. The pizzeria is frequented by many students and at the time of the robbery, an RPI junior was ordering pizza.
The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that while he was waiting for his pizza, the gunman entered the store, put his hand on the student’s shoulder and pointed the gun around the student and directly at the two store employees behind the counter. The three were ordered behind the counter and told to lie face-down on the floor. He pointed out that the robber cut one of the phone lines.
The student said, “I was really freaked out. It was extremely scary.” He said that the robbery took place fairly quickly and that he did not want to risk getting hurt and so he volunteered the money he had out to pay for his pizza. No shots were fired and no one was injured.
He credited store employees with remaining fairly calm and said that when the robber fled, he told everyone to remain where they were while they counted to 100.
After the robbery, the student remained in the pizzeria for about a half hour. He said that while he was there, no uniformed Troy Police officers arrived. He said that a person, who seemed to be the manager, came in and there was another individual who came, whose position he was unsure of. However, a student who passed by later that evening noticed that there were three Troy Police vehicles and Public Safety outside of the restaurant. Pizza Bella reimbursed the student for the money he lost during the robbery but management could not be reached for comment.
The student did not get a clear view of the suspect as his back was facing the robber when he entered and the robber was wearing a ski-mask. However, he described the robber as a black male that who is tall and skinny. According to a crime alert released by RPI Public Safety, the suspect was described as being approximately six feet tall.
Troy Police are handling the investigation and according to Detective Sergeant John Riegert have not made any arrests in the case. He said that the suspect was described by employees to be wearing a black knit cap and a black handkerchief over his face with a black jacket and to be a thin to medium build weighing around 185 pounds.
He explained that the employees in the pizzeria called a co-worker after the robbery and that the police were not called for 20-to-25 minutes after the robbery took place.
Riegert would not comment on leads being investigated but said that no armed robberies of similar nature have occurred recently in this jurisdiction. He did say that the suspect, thought to be involved with many knife robberies around the Capital Region, some in Troy, was apprehended in Albany last Friday.
He said that police department’s records indicated that the last robbery at Pizza Bella was in April of 2003. He also stated that while no arrests have been made in the armed robbery of two RPI students walking on Sherry Road that occurred during last spring, this recent robbery is believed to be unrelated.
In addition to the crime alert spurred by the recent robbery, Public Safety also posted an alert recently concerning the appearance of a male accused of public lewdness. The alert said that at approximately 6 pm on Friday, November 19, “a man naked from the waist down was seen coming down the hill north of West Hall.” The suspect then allegedly headed up into the West Lot and fled toward the south.
This suspect was described as white male who is approximately 5’8". The description release also said the suspect was of a stocky build and in his twenties. The final part of the description said the “Subject was noted to be wearing a red shirt on his head and carrying a bundle of light blue clothing.”
According to Riegert, Troy Police are looking into several leads related to this incident. He said that the description of the most recent incident “may indicate it’s the same person throughout all of the acts,” referring to three incidents since September that he said seemed consistent in nature.
RPI Public Safety could not be reached for comment on the incidents. Public Safety and Troy police urge anyone who has information that may help in either of the investigations to call the Troy Police Detective Bureau at 270-4426.
