Police: Meriden Man Arrested in String of Local Armed Robberies

Meriden Police believe they have caught the man responsible for three high-profile convenience store armed robberies in the city this spring – and possibly more in Wallingford.

Police say Patrick Camera, 46, of 1696 North Broad Street admitted to committing the April 1 armed robbery of the AB Convenience Store in South Meriden while he was in police custody for . On Monday morning, May 23, he was arrested while being arraigned for narcotics at Meriden Superior Court and charged with the AB robbery and those of the Express Shop on East Main Street on April 14, and of Paul's Deli on April 19.

Camera is facing felony robbery and criminal use of a weapon charges for each incident, assorted misdemeanor charges for larceny and breach of peace, and a felony kidnapping charge for forcing employees of Paul's Deli into a back room during a robbery. He is being held on $650,000 bond in total for the three robberies and the felony narcotics charge, according to court records.

Meriden police spokesman Sgt. Glen Milslagle said that the crimes were very similar in nature, and that each time witnesses reported that the man who robbed them was 6-feet-tall with a thick build, wearing a dark colored sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, had a handgun, and drove an early 90's tan Toyota Camry with a dark top.

During the first robbery at AB Deli at 269 Main Street, Camera allegedly walked through the store's back door at about 6 p.m., wearing a black scarf over his face and brandishing a handgun. Police said he took cash from the register and loose change from the store's safe totalling $908 and then drove away. His car was caught on camera.

In mid-April from the second armed robbery Camera is charged with – of the Express Shop at 1440 East Main Street on April 14– to the press in hopes that someone might recognize the suspect. It captured a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, and a bandana that covered his face from nose to chin.

In the third robbery, that of Paul's Deli at 154 North Wall St. on April 19, police said the suspect corralled employees into a back room and went behind the shop's counter to take money from the register. Dollar amounts the suspect obtained from the second two crimes weren't available at press time.

On April 22, , and admitted to the Main Street robbery, police said. From there, Milslagle said, Police put the pieces together.

"All three robberies – they all have distinct similaries," he said.

In the weeks following the first robbery, police discovered that the crime and descriptions of the suspect and car resembled those of others in nearby towns. Wallingford police are now also investigating Camera for robberies in their town, Milslagle said.