Clerk can't ID hold-up suspect

AUSTINTOWN -- Police have a suspect in an armed robbery at the Fuel Mart on Seventy-Six Drive, but he is not charged because a witness has not positively identified him.
The Fuel Mart was robbed Sunday at 5 a.m. of $3,152 from the cash registers and a safe in the office.
An employee told police he left a back office and was met by the robber, who had a handgun.
After the robber fled the store, a witness saw him get into the passenger side of a gold Oldsmobile or Cadillac that was waiting at the nearby Super 8 Motel. It drove west on Seventy-Six Drive and north on state Route 46, according to a police report.
On Tuesday, an officer on surveillance near the Fuel Mart saw a gold Cadillac pull into the Super 8. It stayed parked in one spot for about 10 minutes. One man left the car and walked around the area, but never went into the motel, the report said.
The car finally drove away and was stopped on Route 46 at Interstate 80.
The police report said the car, along with the clothing description for two men and a juvenile in the car, matched the description of the vehicle involved in the aggravated robbery.
The car was towed and held for Austintown detectives in the robbery investigation.
The report said the suspects were brought to the Fuel Mart, where the same clerk who was present during the robbery identified one of them as the gunman.
But Austintown police detective Ray Holmes said the clerk is now hesitating about the identification, so no charges have been filed. The juvenile was charged with a curfew violation.
A gunman also robbed the Fuel Mart on Nov. 7. An undetermined amount of money was taken in that robbery, according to a police report.