Man charged in series of armed street and retail robberies in Scarborough

A Toronto Police Services logo is shown at headquarters, in Toronto, on Friday, August 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

A 20-year-old man is facing four dozen charges in connection with a series of street and retail robberies in Scarborough that saw him allegedly threaten victims with a knife in several instances.

Toronto police said officers from 41 Division responded to at least eight robberies between January and August.

During street robberies, a suspect wearing a ski mask would approach victims and allegedly demand their property, such as cellphones and e-scooters.

Police said the suspect would then assault the victims before fleeing with the stolen items. They further alleged that in some cases, the suspect would pull out a knife or point a firearm to threaten the victims.

Police said the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The same suspect is believed to be responsible for a robbery at a store near Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue East.

Employees confronted the suspect during the robbery, prompting him to allegedly brandish a knife and threaten them, police said.

No employees were physically injured.

In a news release on Saturday, police announced that they located the suspect, Anthoney Grey of Toronto, inside the same store the previous day.

He was arrested and charged with 48 offences, including eight counts of carrying a concealed weapon, eight counts of possessing a weapon dangerous to public peace, five counts of possession of property obtained by crime, six counts of assault with a weapon, three counts of robbery and three counts of uttering threats.