The Medford couple that allegedly robbed more than a dozen eastern Long Island stores in a six-week span to fuel their heroin habit took a 10-day break to get clean, authorities said.
Jaime Greco, 23, and her 29-year-old boyfriend, Christopher Marino, had a bag-and-a-half daily heroin habit after Greco was released from jail on an unrelated charge in late November, but their pace quickly increased to four-to-six bags per day, which motivated the month-long crime spree, Suffolk County police said.
After twice robbing the same Subway sandwich shop in Medford on Dec. 9 and 11 as well as a nearby Hess gas station Dec. 15, the couple decided to detox, according to investigators.
“We were doing real good for a while, but on Christmas day I couldn’t take it anymore,” Marino told detectives, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota, who read from the statement during a news conference Friday at police headquarters.
Greco and Marino are being held on $1.5 million cash bail or $3 million bond after pleading not guilty Thursday to 13 robbery charges and two counts of attempted robbery.
An attorney for Greco said he has not seen any witness statements supporting authorities’ allegations that a woman was involved in the robberies. An attorney for Marino could not be reached.
Authorities said Greco staked out the locations and drove the getaway car for Marino, who allegedly pointed a pellet gun at clerks during the holdups. Police said the weapon appeared in surveillance camera footage to be a .45-caliber handgun.
Once the couple allegedly resumed their spree by holding up a Sonoco station in Coram on Christmas, their pace increased to almost one armed robbery per day for two weeks—twice hitting two stores in one day, police said.
The suspects are accused of using the cash stolen in each case to buy heroin from a known heroin dealer’s house in Shirley, Spota said.
Greco and Marino also allegedly robbed the Hess Express in Ronkonkoma on Dec. 26, Subway in North Patchogue on Dec. 28, Subway in Ronkonkoma on Dec. 29 and another Hess in Medford on New Year’s Eve.
They then allegedly robbed Carvel in Center Moriches on New Year’s Day, Royal Market in Shirley on Jan. 2 and both the 7-Eleven in Medford and Subway in Nesconset on Jan. 3. Two days later, they allegedly robbed a Subway in Ronkonkoma and on Jan. 7 they robbed KFC in Shirley and Mobil on the Run in Islip Terrace.
Police alerted the public to the crime spree the day of the last two alleged robberies by releasing a photo of the suspect to the media. Investigators apprehended the duo shortly after midnight Wednesday, a week later.
