Cassidy suspect charged in robberies

As police continue to investigate the man who confessed to killing Officer Chuck Cassidy last month in West Oak Lane, a portrait of a brazen serial robber is emerging.

Yesterday, police announced they had charged accused murderer John Lewis, 21, an Olney High School dropout, with five more counts of robbery for crimes similar to the morning robbery of the doughnut shop where Cassidy, a 25-year police veteran, was fatally shot Oct. 31.

The robberies, including another at the same Dunkin' Donuts store where Cassidy was killed, occurred in North and Northeast Philadelphia from Sept. 18 through Oct. 25.

Police said all were carried out by a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and demanding money at gunpoint.

Lewis, who also goes by the name Jordan Lewis and Lewis Jordan, did little to conceal his identity during the robberies, police said.

After recognizing him as a regular customer, an employee of a pizza shop held up in October identified Lewis as the gunman who robbed that establishment. An arrest warrant was not immediately obtained, and an internal police investigation is under way to find out if errors were made.

Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, said that the circumstances in the five additional cases were remarkably similar and that investigators were still trying to determine whether there had been other robberies. Vanore said the robbery at Oasis Pizza in Feltonville was the only one in which Lewis had been identified as a suspect before the Cassidy shooting.

Police said they were also still investigating what had fueled the crime spree that culminated in a massive six-day hunt along the Eastern Seaboard to find Cassidy's killer. Lewis was arrested in Miami.

Lewis had been placed in a treatment program after a drug arrest in 2005. Court records show he completed the treatment program in February but was arrested on drug charges over the summer. That case is pending.

On Oct. 31, Cassidy was fatally wounded during his morning routine when he checked on businesses in the 35th District, where he had worked most of his career.

He was entering the Dunkin' Donuts in the 6600 block of North Broad Street when a woman warned that "something" was going on in there. Police said that prompted Cassidy to unholster his weapon. As the officer entered the shop, the gunman turned, shot the officer in the head, stole his 9mm Glock, and fled.

When Lewis was taken into custody at a homeless shelter in Miami, he told reporters that he killed Cassidy and said he had confessed to police. At the time, authorities said Lewis was under investigation in connection with several other robberies.

In addition to murder and robbery charges associated with Cassidy's death, Lewis is charged with a Sept. 18 robbery at the same Dunkin' Donuts.

The other robberies occurred Sept. 21 at the Dunkin' Donuts in the 1800 block of Torresdale Avenue, Oct. 13 at the Dunkin' Donuts in the 7500 block of Frankford Avenue, Oct. 20 at Oasis Pizza in the 4500 block of North Fifth Street, and Oct. 25 at Feltonville Pizza in the 4800 block of Rising Sun Avenue.