Police said they charged a Sandy Hook man on Tuesday, April 25, with first-degree robbery in connection with a January incident involving firearms at a South Main Street (Route 25) gas station/convenience store.

Police report that they served an arrest warrant at state Superior Court in Danbury, lodging the charge against Stephen Violet, 19, of 1 Underhill Road in the Riverside section of Sandy Hook. Violet is accused of taking part in an armed robbery that occurred at about 10:37 pm on January 20 at Wheels Citgo, 151 South Main Street.

Violet is one of two suspects whom police have identified as committing the crime. First-degree robbery is a Class B felony. Convictions on that charge carry a mandatory minimum five-year prison term.

Because he has not been able to raise the high bail placed on him in connection with other serious pending criminal charges, Violet has been held as a prisoner by the state Department of Correction (DOC) since January 23.

In four separate cases, Norwalk police have charged Violet with 19 offenses. Those charges include three separate counts of first-degree robbery, among numerous other offenses.

Violet has not entered pleas to those 19 charges, which stem from four incidents in January in Norwalk. Violet is scheduled to return to state Superior Court in Stamford on those 19 charges on May 11.

With the $75,000 bail placed on Violet for the Newtown armed robbery charge, his overall bail has risen to $350,000. Due to his age, Violet was being held at the DOC's Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire on April 25.

Newtown police spokesman Lieutenant Aaron Bahamonde said the police probe remains "very active" and other suspects are being investigated as having participated in the January gas station robbery.

"This was great police work by both the Norwalk Police Department and the detectives unit from the Newtown Police Department, who worked in cooperation in putting this [Newtown] case together [leading to] suspect Stephen Violet being arrested," Lt Bahamonde said. Detective Joe Joudy was the lead investigator for Newtown police.

The two males who robbed the Wheels Citgo gas station were wearing hoods and masks, police have said. In early reports on the crime, police described the assailants as one white male and one black male, both of medium build, and both of whom were armed with handguns. The thieves stole an unspecified amount of cash from the store's cash register, police have said. There were no injuries in the incident.

Police have said that two male store clerks at the gas station were the victims of the two robbers. Besides the two clerks, there were no other witnesses to the incident.