Southington, Plainville Men Charged in Wolcott Robbery

A Southington man and Plainville resident are each facing charges in connection with a Wolcott armed robbery and Meriden police are trying to determine if they may have been involved in a second violent robbery along West Main Street on Tuesday.

Take a look at the complete story, which first appeared on Meriden Patch:

Updated
Meriden Police released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying that detectives are not able at this time to name the pair arrested in a Wolcott armed robbery today as suspects in yesterday's armed robbery in Meriden.

"As of this time we are investigating the similarities between the two crimes; however, we are still not able to name the person who was arrested in Wolcott as a suspect in the Meriden robbery," Police spokesman Darrin McKay said in a statement. "Although we believe that the suspect in Meriden most probably fled our scene in a vehicle, it is still not clear what type of vehicle may have been used if any."

Detectives continue to investigate the Wolcott tie and other leads and ask anyone with information to contact Det. David Visconti at 203-630-6252. Police released a video still and description of the suspect Tuesday which can be see HERE.

Original Story
Meriden detectives are talking with Wolcott Police Wednesday afternoon to see if two suspects charged in a morning armed robbery in that town have ties to a Tuesday robbery in Meriden in which a clerk's face and neck were slashed.

Meriden Police spokesman Sgt. Darrin McKay confirmed reports by the Meriden Record Journal and WFSB that said city police were investigating two suspects arrested and charged with an armed robbery in Wolcott at about 7:50 a.m. this morning. During the robbery, a man allegedly slashed a BP gas station owner who was fighting him off with a milk crate in the hand before stealing a cash register and taking off with a female accomplice.

The details of the crime are similar to the violent armed robbery of Sam's Food Store on West Main Street in Meriden Tuesday, in which a man took a cash register after slashing a clerk in his early sixties in the face and neck.

"Right now our detectives are sorting through the facts with Wolcott," McKay said by e-mail Wednesday.

According to WFSB, Wolcott Police are charging Angel Paradise, 26, of Southington and Michael Chapman, 33, of Plainville with assault, robbery, larceny, and carrying a dangerous weapon in connection with the BP robbery.

The two were found in a nearby Waterbury parking lot a short time after the robbery changing the plates on their brown Jeep, according to WFSB. Paradise, Chapman, and the Jeep all matched descriptions of the robbery suspects.