Erie police say Summit man charged in Waterford store heist is their lollipop bandit

Erie police believe a Summit Township man charged with robbing a Dollar General store in Waterford Township while buying cat food on Saturday is the same suspect who bought a lollipop before robbing a city store on Thursday.

City police detectives on Monday filed criminal charges against 33-year-old Christopher R. Zapolski in the armed robberies of the Dollar General store at 3785 Zimmerman Road on Thursday and the Tops Friendly Markets at 1520 W. 26th St. on April 3.

Zapolski was arraigned Monday afternoon on charges including felony counts of robbery and terroristic threats in the two cases and had bond set at $75,000 on each case.

In the Dollar General robbery in Erie, investigators said the suspect bought a lollipop and paid cash for it, and when an employee opened the cash register the suspect pulled out a gun and demanded money from the register. The suspect took the lollipop and an undisclosed sum of cash and fled the store, Erie police reported.

In the Tops robbery, investigators said a suspect wearing a mask put a gun on a counter and demanded $10 and $20 bills from a grocery employee.

Zapolski was apprehended by the Pennsylvania State Police and was jailed on a $175,000 bond on Monday morning after troopers accused him of robbing the Dollar General store at 12674 Route 19 in Waterford Township on Saturday night.

Man buys lollipop, robs Erie storeA recent robbery spree that has targeted stores in and around Erie continued on Thursday night, as cash was stolen from

Erie grocery store robbedErie police are working to identify a suspect accused of robbing a westside grocery store at gunpoint on Sunday night.

Troopers said the suspect purchased cat food, then pulled out a gun when an employee opened the cash register and demanded money from the register. The suspect then fled the store, troopers reported.

Waterford heist similar to other robberies

State police wrote in Zapolski's criminal complaint that the robbery suspect's actions were similar to other recent store robberies that state police and the Erie Bureau of Police were investigating. Those robberies include the Dollar General and Tops robberies in Erie, and the robberies of Dollar General stores in Summit Township and Wattsburg in March, according to investigators.

State police probe Summit store robberyPennsylvania State Police troopers are searching for a suspect in a gray hooded sweatshirt who robbed a Summit Township

Among the similarities, according to information in the complaint, was the use of a white Audi as the suspect's getaway vehicle.

A state police trooper who responded to the Waterford Township robbery on Saturday night reported passing a white Audi that was traveling north on Route 97 at high speed, according to the complaint. The trooper attempted to catch the vehicle but lost it after it turned onto Robison Road traveling west, investigators wrote in the complaint.

A state police corporal spotted the Audi traveling along Route 97 early Sunday morning and watched it pull into a gas station on Route 97. The corporal went into the store and confirmed that the male who had exited the Audi matched the description of the suspect in other robberies, according to information in the complaint.

The corporal left the store and waited for backup. When the corporal and other troopers went back into the gas station, the man was gone and they learned from a witness that a man ran out of a rear door, according to the complaint.

State police seized the Audi from the gas station and served a search warrant on it Sunday afternoon. Investigators said they found clothing the suspect wore during the Waterford Township robbery in the trunk of the car.

Troopers later apprehended Zapolski at a residence in Erie County on Sunday, according to state police.

State police charged Zapolski with offenses including felony counts of robbery and terroristic threats in the Waterford Township Dollar General robbery. Millcreek Township District Judge Laurie Mikielski arraigned Zapolski on the charges on Monday morning and placed him in the Erie County Prison on a $175,000 bond.

The Erie police detective who investigated the Dollar General and Tops robberies in Erie and filed the charges against Zapolski in those two cases was working with state police troopers on the larger robbery spree, Deputy Chief Rick Lorah said.

State police had not filed charges in the Summit Township and Wattsburg Dollar General robberies as of Tuesday morning but were looking at Zapolski as a possible suspect in those crimes, state police Troop E commander Capt. Kirk Reese said.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Lollipop bandit: Summit man charged in Waterford robbery; others probed