Three men are now in custody in connection with a pair of armed robberies.

The men may also be linked to a recent rash of violent holdups in Reading, police said.

About 20 robberies have been committed in the city over the past month and a half, said Capt. Damond Kloc, Reading Police Department, who added that investigators believe the holdups are related.

Eduardo Ramos, 27, Eligio Huertas, 24, and Luis Ivan Cruz, 21, are accused of robbing the Sunoco gas station in the 200 block of the Warren Street Bypass and La Cibaena grocery store at Front and Oley streets, at gunpoint Tuesday night.

Kloc said all three men could be linked to other robberies that have occurred in the city.

"We actually organized a task force throughout the county because we believe that the suspects that were hitting corner stores and restaurants were working together," said Kloc.

John George, assistant manager at the Sunoco, said two of the robbers jumped over the store's counter and pistol-whipped a 19-year-old cashier.

"It's frustrating, especially because of Ravi," said George. "He's such a young kid. Something like that shouldn't even happen to him."

After leaving the Sunoco, surveillance video shows the suspects carjacked a man at gunpoint, throwing the driver and a passenger out of the vehicle, and fled the scene in a 2000 Toyota sedan, which police later recovered, Kloc said.

Not long after the Sunoco robbery, La Cibaena was hit. The robbers made off with $2,500 and a handgun from the store, police said.

Police executed a search warrant on Wednesday and found masks and clothing that were used in the robberies, Klock said.

They also found items linking Huertas to the Dec. 22 robbery of the Citi Food Market in the 1700 block of Cotton Street.

"That’s just great police work," said Mayor Vaughn Spencer, D-Reading, in a statement released by his office on Wednesday. "We need to show these criminals that we're not going to put up with these armed robberies in our city, and our police force is dedicated to protecting our citizens from this violent criminal behavior."

All three suspects were charged with robbery, aggravated assault, theft and related offenses.