2 teens confess to crime wave
They're held in 14 heists, 2 carjackings
At an age when most boys are focused on prom dates and driver's licenses, police say two West Philly teens have been busy masterminding a staggering citywide crime wave.
The boys - ages 15 and 16- were arrested on Monday after they confessed to committing 14 bar robberies and two carjackings at gunpoint during the past month, said Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives.
The teens, whose names were not released, were each charged with multiple counts of robbery and related offenses.
"They pretended to be patrons but ended up demanding money from the bar employees and the customers," Walker said.
"They were both armed. In one [surveillance] video, we see one of the suspects pointing a gun at a female patron, who can't stop her hands from shaking because she so feared for her life."
Walker said the teens pocketed from $200 to $1,200 in each of the bar heists.
Despite their young age, the teens handled their daring crimes with ease, and confidently expanded their target area from their own neighborhood to parts of Northwest and North Central Philadelphia, he said.
The young crooks struck for the first time on Oct. 21 at a bar on 52nd Street near Westminster Avenue in West Philly. Their most recent strike occurred on Sunday at a bar on 29th Street near Girard Avenue in North Philly, according to a police report obtained by the Daily News.
When investigators reviewed surveillance footage of some of the holdups, they were struck by the fact that the teen thieves, who had several prior arrests, seemed to find humor in watching their victims squirm as they stared down the barrel of a gun, Walker said.
"They're so young, but they have such a lack of regard for human life," he noted. "The lasting effects of these crimes will be anything but funny to the victims."
Walker said "excellent detective work" and evidence left behind at one of the robberies led police to the 16-year-old suspect, who lives on Westminster Avenue near 46th Street.
Detectives found the teen sitting in a car with a silver-and-black, .40-caliber handgun Monday morning and took him in for questioning after they received permission from his mother, according to the police report.
He soon identified his 15-year-old cohort, and detectives apprehended him at his home on Peach Street near Arch before noon on Monday.
Both teens confessed to their roles in the bar heists and the carjackings, which occurred in the city and in Upper Darby, Walker said.
Investigators obtained search warrants for both of the boys' homes and discovered some of their booty.
At the 16-year-old's home on Westminster Avenue, police found two cell phones and a live 9 mm bullet. They also found six cell phones at another property tied to the older teen, according to the police report.
Detectives found even more evidence at the 15-year-old's home on Peach Street, including an unloaded, black-handled Jennings 9 mm, a black-and-silver BB gun and 14 cell phones, according to the police report.
"There was a lot of concern because of how brazen they were with the robberies and the way they handled the weapons," Walker said. "We're glad they're off the streets." *