Police Pursue Leads In Laundromat Robbery

By Andrew Gorosko

Police said this week they are making progress in their investigation into a robbery that occurred last week at PJ’s Laundromat in Sandy Hook Center and expect to make an arrest or arrests in the case.

Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner said, “We have some solid, significant leads that we’re looking into.…We think we probably know who it is,” the sergeant said of the robber.

A white man in his 20s entered the laundromat at 110 Church Hill Road near closing time, at about 8:43 pm April 1, and robbed money from an attendant there. Police list the incident as first-degree robbery, which is a felony.

Police have said that the assailant, who was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, told the laundromat attendant that he had a gun, demanded money, and then made off with a metal bucket filled with quarters and currency. No weapon was shown. There were no injuries.

The robber then traveled over a footbridge above the Pootatuck River and entered an older sedan parked in small parking lot alongside Washington Avenue, which then traveled southward on that street. The robber stole an unspecified amount of money.

Apparently, the robber was a passenger in the auto that drove away, Sgt Wisentaner said.

The sergeant said he expects that police will seek an arrest warrant from Danbury Superior Court in pursuing charges in the case.

Police have used some images from video surveillance cameras at the laundromat, plus other information, in piecing together who stole the money, he said.

Police detectives will be doing some additional investigation into the incident to perform a thorough probe of the crime, he said.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe told Police Commission members this week that police have some “good information” on who committed the robbery. “Hopefully, there would be an arrest made shortly on that,” he added.

Police Captain Joe Rios said the incident may have amounted to “a crime of opportunity” during tough economic times.

Sgt Wisentaner asked that anyone who has information on the incident to contact police at the police station at 3 Main Street, telephone 426-5841, or at the police tip line at 270-8888.