Police investigators say they believe the same man held up two Bel Air-area service stations within three days late last month.

Officers from the county Sheriff's Department and the Bel Air Police Department are investigating robberies at the Moores Mill Citgo on Conowingo Road and the BP service station on Churchville Road.

John W. Harkins, spokesman for Bel Air police, said investigatorsbelieve the robberies are connected because of the similar descriptions of the suspects and the similar way the businesses were robbed.

* On Feb. 26, a man entered the office of the BP station, browsed through items on a display rack and then demanded that the clerk give him money, Bel Air police said. The man did not use a weapon. The clerk gave the man $590 and the robber fled from the station, police said.

The suspect is described as a black male, about 6 feet tall, with a medium build, police said. He was wearing a jean jacket, blue jeans, a green shirt and a ski mask.

* On Feb. 28, a man wielding a knife threatened a clerk at the Moores Mill Citgo station, pushing the clerk against a wall and demanding that the station's safe be opened, police said.

The clerk said she told the man that she couldn't open the safe. The man then grabbed money from a cash drawer and fled. The clerk was not injured.

The suspect is described as a black male about 5-foot-10 with a thin build, the department said. He was wearing a green parka with fur trim on the hood, a blue sweat shirt anda ski mask.