The man accused by Riverhead Police of holding up two Main Street businesses at gunpoint in the past week stood before Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith this morning listening quietly as the charges against him were read aloud.
Police say in each of the robberies — on May 8 at Barth’s Drug Store and four days later, on May 12 at Uncle Joe’s Pizzeria — Brian Houpe Jr. held a gun to an employee’s head and demanded cash. He fled each shop after a second employee in each location put money in a bag he handed them.
Houpe wore a gorilla mask during the Barth’s holdup, but he warned the female employee he held at gunpoint, “This ain’t no f—ing joke,” according to the charges.
In the second holdup, the robber wore a bandana over his face, police said. He held a waiter in a chokehold, pointing a gun to his head and demanded the pizzeria manager fill his bag with cash, the manager said.
Each time, Houpe made off with a few hundred dollars, according to police.
Police did not reveal how they connected Houpe to the robberies.
“It was great detective work,” Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said. “Detectives were able to gather a lot of factual information, not just circumstantial, and put it all together. They gathered a lot of evidence,” he said, declining to say what that evidence consisted of.
Police arrested Houpe yesterday at the Calverton Hills condominium complex off Nugent Drive.
“He was outside a unit where he was apparently staying,” Hegermiller said. “I don’t think he’s originally from this area.”
The defendant, who was wearing a black t-shirt, red Adidas warm-up pants and red sneakers, told the court this morning he’s been “staying at” an apartment at 821 East Main Street. “But I don’t know if I’m still there,” he said.
“It’s a long story,” he said.
Houpe, 26, said he worked as a manager at the Salvation Army store until he was fired last month. “I make music. I sell beats,” he said.
When the prosecutor asked for bail to be set at $250,000, Houpe lamented: “I can’t afford that and I’ll be stuck in jail without being able to get a good lawyer. I have no criminal record.”
He faces two counts of robbery in the first degree,
The judge said considering the seriousness of the charges, “a $250,000 bail is warranted.” He told the defendant a Legal Aid Society lawyer would be assigned to him if he can’t afford to hire his own attorney. He was remanded to the Suffolk County jail with orders to return on May 18.
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