Teens Jailed in Gas Station Robbery
Two teenagers charged with robbing the Speedway gas station in Wainscott on New Year’s Day were seen laughing last Thursday as they were being led away to jail following their arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court.
Maximilian H. Bonilla of Mattituck, 18, and Joseph G. Worysz of Southold, 19, each accused the other of holding what looked like a gun and being the stickup man, though both admitted being at the scene of the robbery. East Hampton Town police say they were on a days-long drug binge.
The Speedway holdup happened at about 11:38 a.m. Earlier, according to police, at about 5:30 a.m., the teens had threatened a clerk at the Bolla Market Mobil Gas Station on Middle Country Road in Calverton, both brandishing weapons, before making off with cash.
Mr. Bonilla has also been charged with a Dec. 28 robbery at Gamestop on Old Country Road, Riverhead.
The two were taken into custody on Jan. 2 by Southold Town police and turned over to Riverhead Town police. An East Hampton detective questioned them in Riverhead later that day.
Mr. Worysz told the detective he had rented a U-Haul van to celebrate his birthday. “We were pumped,” he said of their two-day odyssey in the vehicle. They slept in the van, he said. On Dec. 31, he and Mr. Bonilla woke up and realized they were out of gas. He went to a station, he told the detective, bought a gas can for $16, and filled it with $20 worth of gasoline.
Then the two were off. “It gets real foggy for me,” Mr. Worysz stated. “On New Year’s Eve, I took one and a half K-Pins. New Year’s morning, I took four K-Pins. I was extremely high. The day was a blur.” (K-Pin is street slang for the drug Klonopin, which is frequently mixed with other addictive drugs. Mr. Bonilla told police they were also taking Xanax.)
Both men said the Speedway holdup was spontaneous, but that it was the other’s idea. That they were in Wainscott at all was because they were lost, Mr. Bonilla said, explaining that they had started near Mr. Worysz’s house in Southold and decided to drive to the Shinnecock reservation in Southampton to buy cheap cigarettes. “We were driving around and smoking weed,” Mr. Bonilla said. “We got lost and ended up in East Hampton,” where, he said, his father owns a house.
From Route 114, they found their way to Montauk Highway and headed west. As they approached Speedway, according to Mr. Bonilla, Mr. Worysz said, “Let’s hit that one.” They pulled into a lot north of the gas station. Each said the other got out and went inside. The robber, caught on video wearing a hoodie, mask, glasses, and gloves, got away with $443.
In Mr. Worysz’s account, Mr. Bonilla came sprinting out of the gas station. “Max started yelling at me, ‘Don’t tell no one. We can’t tell our friends.’ He was in a Xanax rage.”
The man caught on video was wearing the same clothes Mr. Bonilla had on when he was arrested — an incriminating circumstance that he explained away to the detective: “Joey told me he didn’t feel like wearing my dirty clothes anymore, so we switched.”
Each young man said the guns allegedly used were only pellet guns. Mr. Bonilla identified the one displayed at Speedway as an Airsoft gun, which can look a lot like a real weapon.
The combined bail amount from several charges against Mr. Worysz is $40,000. The cumulative amount for Mr. Bonilla is $85,000. Both teens have been transferred from the Riverside jail to the one in Yaphank.
As they were led out of East Hampton Town Justice Court last Thursday, handcuffed, chained to each other, legs manacled, Mr. Bonilla posed for a photographer, making what appeared to be gang symbols. He was asked if he had robbed the Speedway station. “No. We stole some flowers,” he said, laughing, as a county sheriff put a hand on his neck and ducked him into the back of a police car.