45°
It was a Saturday night around 6:15 on April 20, 2012 when, police said, Donald Tuohy walked into The Locker Room on Stuyvesant Avenue.
After using the bathroom, he asked the 26-year-old barmaid for a tap beer, Lyndhurst Police Chief Jim O’Connor told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. She said they had only bottles, so he ordered a Budweiser, the chief said.
As she was getting it, O’Connor said, Tuohy pulled a handgun from his left jacket pocket — then began apologizing for robbing her.
“He said, ‘I’m desperate. I don’t want to hurt anyone’,” O’Connor said.
Tuohy, 49, then took a twenty from the fistful of cash she’d just handed him and left it on the bar for her, the chief added.
Later that night, Detective Ronald Guirland and Detective Sgt. John Kerner reviewed surveillance video from the tavern and nearby businesses and canvassed the neighborhood. They quickly identified the car the robber was driving, which police said had distinctive damage.
They then arrested Tuohy at his home without incident. They also recovered the gun, which the indictment says he didn’t have a permit for.
Rutherford detectives soon became interested. They were investigating the April 9 attempted holdup of a Delta gas station on Park Avenue.
In that case, the attendant told police a man drove up in a four-door silver sedan — possibly a mid 90’s Toyota — then got out and asked for $20 worth of gas.
The attendant said the driver then asked whether he could break a hundred-dollar bill, and he said he did.
At that point, he said, the man demanded all of his cash. The attendant said he told him the money was in a safe, but then he “motioned to his pocket” and said he’d shoot him if didn’t comply.
He said the would-be robber fled empty-handed after he threatened to call police.
Rutherford Detective Kevin Scannell later found the gas cap to the driver’s car, Capt. Patrick Feliciano told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
After Lyndhurst police arrested Tuohy, Rutherford detectives got a search warrant for his home. Soon after, they charged the jailed Tuohy with robbery and making terroristic threats.
Tuohy, who has an extensive criminal record, faces three charges in the indictment involving the Lyndhurst holdup — two of them illegal weapons offenses.
Tuohy was being held on $500,000 combined bail in the Bergen County Jail.
Grand jury action is still pending in the Rutherford case.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy LYNDHURST PD
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
