Couple who Robbed Gas Stations with Kids in Car Arrested

A Johnston man and woman responsible for a crime spree over the weekend are facing first-degree robbery charges after dogged police work by the Smithfield Police Department.

Police said George E. Lial, 25; and Danielle Garafalo, also 25, both of 17 Elmgrove Ave., Johnston, began their criminal marathon at 1:07 a.m. on Aug. 9 when police were dispatched to the Mobil gas station on Putnam Pike for a robbery report.

Police said Lial walked in the door and assaulted the clerk with a tire iron when she refused to give him any money.

He then robbed the Shell gas station next door brandishing the same tire iron, police said.

He was last seen getting into a maroon Chevrolet pickup truck being driven by a woman, later identified as Garafalo, with two children inside the vehicle.

Later in the day, police got a report of a purse snatching attempt at Dave’s Marketplace on Cedar Swamp Road.

The victim said that when she walked out of the store a woman tried to rip the purse from her arm. The victim held on and the female, identified as Garafalo, gave up and fled in the same pickup truck, this time with Lial behind the wheel.

As police were investigating the robbery, they got a report from an alert citizen who said that the truck involved in the incident was not at Stop and Shop.

Police responded to the other supermarket and arrested boyh Lial and Garafalo without incident.

Police were able to identify the two suspects using security camera footage at the other robberies.

Both were remanded to the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston after appearing before a bail commissioner at the Smithfield Police Department’s headquarters.

Garafalo was also charged with driving without a license, police said.

The state Department of Children Youth and Families were notified.