Store owner foils robbery for second time in a year
Published on February 14th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Robbers have held up all three Stoneham Dairy Marts in the past month. But Sadat Khen, owner of the 41 Main St. store, is no easy target.
Khen chased a gunman off his property on Tuesday night, Feb. 6, just like he did last June.
“Someone has to make a stand,” said Khen.
Stoneham Police Detective John Leccese said store clerks should cooperate with armed robbers to get them out of the store without violence as soon as possible.
“It’s not worth getting shot,” Leccese said.
“I tell my employees to just give up the money,” Khen said. “But when I’m there, I can’t do that.”
Stephen McMaster, 18, of 14 Monument Square in Charlestown was arrested just minutes after the attempted robbery after crashing his getaway car in North Reading. He worked alone, according to Stoneham Police, and is not a suspect in the other two knife-point robberies, which are still under investigation.
Last Tuesday around 10:20 p.m. at the 41 Main St. Dairy Mart, a fair skinned white man in a dark sweatshirt placed a Gatoraid drink on the counter after taking a long time in the store, according to Sadat’s wife, Mrs. Khen (first name withheld upon request). She was working behind the counter.
Mrs. Khen said that she noticed that her husband had put down his broom to keep an eye on the only customer in the store because the man was “acting strange.” Then the man, later identified as McMaster, put a white plastic Babies ‘R Us bag on the counter and reached into his other pocket.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I was never in this situation before, but maybe a sixth sense made me scream ‘No!’” Mrs. Khen said. She hit the alarm switch and backed away from the robber.
The robber drew a gun from his pocket.
“I was expecting something but not this. Maybe he would just cause trouble like the high school boys or ask for cigarettes. Maybe a knife, like the other robberies. Not a gun,” Mrs. Khen said.
Mr. Khen turned from the door, where he had been checking for cars in the parking lot as is his habit, to find a handgun pointed at his face.
Last June Khen chased a man with a gun out of the store. This time he grabbed for the barrel of the gun, and it popped open.
“The gun opened in the middle where the bullets go,” Mrs. Khen said. “I don’t know what kind of a gun it was, but I have seen them in the movies.”
The bullets fell out onto the Dairy Mart floor.
“I saw the bullets on the floor, and I thought my husband was shot. But there was no sound,” Mrs. Khen said.
The gun — identified by Stoneham Police as an old model, .22 caliber, eight-shot revolver — had not fired. The bullets slid out of the chamber, and the robber panicked. He hit Khen on the head and face with the gun and fled. Khen followed, chasing the man across Main Street into the Buckingham Terrace Condominium parking lot. The robber hopped into a running 1997 Ford Taurus, stolen earlier from Boston, and took off north on Main Street toward Reading.
Stoneham Police received a 911 call from Mrs. Khen several minutes after she struck the initial alarm.
“We called after my husband got back to the store,” Mrs. Khen said. The couple gave police the description of the man, gun and getaway car with a partial plate as well as the direction the robber was heading.
“I have to give credit to the excellent work of our dispatchers,” Leccese said.
The information relayed to police dispatchers was instantly put on the inter-city police radio frequency. Dispatchers worked quickly to let officers know where McMaster was heading, and within minutes North Reading Police called Stoneham to report that a white Taurus speeding over 80 miles per hour had just flipped over across from 303 Main St. in North Reading. Stoneham Police brought the Khens to the scene around 10:30 p.m.
Miraculously, McMaster was not hurt in the crash, but his luck ran out when the witnesses positively identified him, his car and his gun. A surveillance system at the store also recorded the attempted robbery.
Stoneham Police charged McMaster with attempted armed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and illegal possession of ammunition (the bullets that fell on the floor). North Reading Police charged McMaster with speeding and several other motor vehicle offenses, car theft and illegal possession of a gun.
Leccese said that he spoke with Khen and told him that he shouldn’t take on armed men; Khen had no weapon. But Mrs. Khen said that her husband wasn’t just thinking about the money.
“We don’t even keep much cash in the store anymore,” she said.
“I have a strong belief in God,” Khen said. “If I have to go defending my store, I will.”
He received bumps and bruises from the robber’s pistol whipping.
Mrs. Khen said that her husband was just trying to get the robber to stop pointing the gun at them.
“He pushed his hands away and then shoved him toward the door,” She said. “And maybe my husband was more upset because I was there.”
Khen has been through multiple robberies. Criminals have lost a total of $20 in their past two attempts to rob his store. In June the failed robber left a $20 bill on the counter, and the getaway driver was later arrested. Tuesday’s culprit got nothing but arrested.
McMaster was arraigned in Woburn District Court last week and is awaiting a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 14.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!