Mastic man gets 15 1/2 years for gunpoint robbery spree across two counties

A Mastic man who prosecutors said terrorized late-night clerks across Suffolk and Nassau was sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison after admitting to a one-night, four-stop robbery spree and a separate shooting in Sayville.

Josue Bedell Jr., 24, pleaded guilty in March 2026 to the robberies and the later poker-game shooting, and Suffolk County Judge imposed the sentence on April 29, 2026. Prosecutors said Bedell and an accomplice hit gas station convenience stores in rapid succession on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, 2023, moving west from Ronkonkoma through Hauppauge, Amityville and Massapequa in little more than an hour.

The first robbery came at 1:35 a.m. at the Bolla Market in Ronkonkoma, where prosecutors said Bedell pointed a gun at the clerk and escaped with about $1,000. Twenty minutes later, at 1:55 a.m., the same pattern played out at the BP Gas Station in Hauppauge, where about $1,200 was taken. The spree continued at 2:23 a.m. at a 7-Eleven in Amityville, with about $800 stolen, and ended at 2:29 a.m. at a Bolla Market in Massapequa, where prosecutors said another $600 was taken.

Authorities said Bedell and Christian Anderson, 24, of Shirley, were indicted together in May 2024 on multiple counts tied to the robbery spree. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said the case was built with help from the Suffolk County Police Department, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the Nassau County Police Department and the Gang Violence Task Force.

Police said the pair used a stolen Dodge Charger, wore inconspicuous clothing and armed themselves before entering the stores. When the final robbery ended, Nassau County police began pursuing the car. The Charger was later found abandoned after crashing into a tree on the lawn of a residence in Wantagh.

No one was injured in the 2023 robberies, according to Suffolk police. Still, the case stretched well beyond a routine property crime, moving from armed commercial robberies in Suffolk into Nassau County and later into a separate violent episode in Sayville. For store workers in Ronkonkoma, Hauppauge, Amityville and Massapequa, the sentence marks the close of one case, but it also underlines how quickly a late-night robbery can become a countywide public-safety threat.