UPDATE: Police ID Man Charged with Gas Station Robbery

Police on Thursday identified the 21-year-old Pleasant Plains man who allegedly stole about $200 from a gas station while reportedly armed with a handgun as Steven Lazarie of West Todd Road. 

Lazarie was charged with the robbery Wednesday night after an investigation by Toms River Police Department Detectives Roger Hull, Brian Lomer and Louis Santora, according to Chief of Police Michael Mastronardy. He is lodged in the Ocean County Jail on $150,000 bail with no 10 percent option, Mastronardy said.

Toms River police responded to the Exxon at the corner of Routes 9 and 571 after 6 p.m. Wednesday and a search was coordinated by Sgt. Ed Mooney for a white male who was seen heading north on Route 9. A witness saw the man running down Swain Avenue toward a dead end north of station toward the Garden State Parkway, Mastronardy said.

"Within 30 minutes of the robbery Officer Frank Moschella observed a suspect matching the description of the suspect at Old Freehold Road and the Garden State Parkway," Mastronardy said.

The Ocean County Sheriff's Department is assisting Toms River police with the investigation, according to the chief.