News of the armed deli heist at Sterlington Station made its way through Sloatsburg yesterday faster than Twitter can break a story. When Sloatsburg Elementary School briefly locked down while police searched the surrounding neighborhood for the robbery suspect, news of the incident spread through social networks and the proverbial grapevine. Soon the village was abuzz about the crazy caper pulled off in broad daylight and certain to bring down the hard hand of the law.

It was later reported that 24 year old Sloatsburg resident Jeremy Olano was being held Monday night at Ramapo police headquarters, waiting arraignment in Sloatsburg Village Court for the reported holdup. He is being charged with second-degree robbery, a felony.

Hudson Valley News 12 swooped in for the story yesterday as it was breaking, with intrepid gumshoe reporter Ty Milburn reporting at the crime scene.

“Police were inside and outside of Sterlington Station in Sloatsburg on Monday afternoon after the deli and restaurant on Seven Lakes Drive was robbed at gunpoint,” Milburn exclaimed. “The suspect stormed into the deli wearing a mask and carrying what later turned out to be a fake gun, and then escaped by bicycle up Allen Lane.”

Ramapo police officers converged on Sterlington Station, joined by the Rockland County Sheriff Department, and just after 2 p.m. ordered a lockdown of Sloatsburg Elementary School. Officers then fanned out through the neighborhood in what turned out to be a brief manhunt for the suspect. Lohud reported that Ramapo Detective Sgt. Brian Corbett said that officers from three additional police departments were called in to assist with the search and that the school lockdown was a precaution because of its proximity to the reported armed robbery.

New York State Park Police and the Tuxedo Police Department joined the sheriff’s department and Ramapo police.

Olano was found at his apartment on Apple Street, a secluded narrow slice of road that runs parallel to Allen and just a brief village block from Sterlington. Witnesses described the robbery suspect as wearing a black hoodie and red striped pants. The deli robber reportedly pulled a gun that turned out to be fake, but New York law recognizes the use or threat of use of a weapon or simulated weapon in a crime as a felony. Olano is a Cablevision employee in Orange County. Cablevision is the parent company of News 12.

The amount jacked from Sterlington Station was reported as anywhere from $500 to as much as $3500.

Delores Manning, longtime former owner of the deli and restaurant when it was known as Miele’s, happened to be at Sterlington around the time of the heist.

“I’ve been sitting here for an hour and a half today, then I left and then it happened,” Manning said when interviewed by Milburn. “All those years we’ve been in here, we never had this problem, never.”

Source: Lohud and News 12.