Armed robbery suspect arrested

WHEELING - Aaron Thomas Holstein is a suspect in two armed robberies, but for now he is only facing charges in one of them.

Wheeling police arrested Holstein, 34, at 10:39 p.m. Thursday in a home at 24 Seventh St. in North Wheeling. He is being held today in the Northern Regional Jail on a charge of aggravated robbery stemming from the Oct. 15 armed robbery of the Family Market Custom Killing butcher shop in Centerville.

Holstein also is suspected of robbing Warwood's Florist Creative Arts & Crafts at gunpoint on Oct. 14, police said.

Today, Wheeling Police Chief Robert Matheny said Holstein formerly lived in Ohio and has family in Belmont County. He said police learned recently that Holstein has lived in the North Wheeling residence for about the past month.

There were similarities in the armed robberies in Warwood and Centerville, according to reports. In both cases, the robber wandered around the business before pulling a small, silver handgun and demanding money.

Matheny said, although Holstein is a suspect in the Warwood crime, investigators are not ready to file charges against him in that robbery.

"We aren't going to jump to any conclusions," Matheny said. "We are not at that juncture in the investigation. He's definitely a suspect, and we're investigating all possibilities."

Warwood's Florist owner Linda Contraguerro said today she was relieved to learn the suspect is behind bars. She said she feared the man who robbed the store would return.

Warwood's Florist employee Alicia Drevna was the woman who faced the gun in that armed robbery. On Wednesday, she saw a picture of Holstein who had just been named as the suspect in the Belmont County robbery. She immediately believed it was the same man who pointed a gun at her.