EAST CHICAGO | A Calumet neighborhood resident is facing a dozen felony charges in a string of robberies committed during a single week within blocks of his home, East Chicago police said.

Police said Robert Haywood Rias, 20, of the 4800 block of Melville Avenue, admitted to robbing a gas station and twice robbing a senior citizen. Police said Rias told them he spent all the money on cocaine.

The owner of the West Chicago Avenue filling station told police a man fitting Rias' description forced his way into the office shortly after 9 p.m. Aug. 9.

The man put a choke hold on the owner and threatened to kill him if he did not open the cash register, according to an affidavit filed by the Lake County prosecutor's office.

A 78-year-old resident of the 4700 block of Euclid Avenue told police he was asleep in a chair in his living room shortly after midnight Aug. 16 when someone cut a window screen and unlocked his front door.

The resident said the intruder went into his bedroom and left with cash, a diamond wedding band and a pair of wristwatches.

The next day, the resident heard someone at his door about 1 p.m., and he went outside to find a man -- whom he later identified as Rias -- sitting on a bicycle, police said.

The man asked to borrow an air pump, and the resident said he led him to the garage, where he had one.

Once inside, the man grabbed him in a choke hold from behind until he passed out, the resident said. When he regained consciousness, he saw the man going through his wallet.

The two struggled until the intruder fled on foot, the resident told detectives.

Rias is facing once count of robbery, one count of strangulation and two counts of criminal confinement in the gas station robbery. In the Euclid Avenue crimes, Rias was charged with burglary, robbery, battery, attempted battery, strangulation, residential entry and two counts of criminal confinement.