LEWISTON — An 18-year-old Fairfield man was arrested early Saturday morning and charged with stealing a car and robbing a Main Street gas station and mini mart.

Police charged Isaac Howard Sterling with Class B robbery and theft of a motor vehicle, Lt. David St. Pierre said.

A clerk at the Irving Mainway at 674 Main St. said a man “with his face covered” came into the store at about 1 a.m. and announced it was an “armed robbery,” according to a news release by St. Pierre.

Although the suspect didn’t present a weapon, he demanded all the money in the cash drawer, plus cigarettes, then fled with the cigarettes and an undisclosed amount of cash, according to police.

A short time later, officers watched a silver Cadillac on Main Street drive onto the median, hitting a sign near a crosswalk across the street from Central Maine Medical Center. The car fled the scene but was later stopped by police.

The driver was Sterling, police said. He was taken into custody and charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage and operating without a license.

Police said they found evidence from the robbery in the car Sterling had been driving. On further investigation, police discovered the Cadillac had been stolen from the driveway of its owner on outer Main Street, St. Pierre wrote in the statement.

Police also charged Sterling with robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and theft. He was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $15,000 cash bail.

He is likely to appear Wednesday at 8th District Court in Lewiston.

Because some of the charges are felonies, he won’t enter a plea unless an Androscoggin County grand jury hands up an indictment on those charges.

 

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