Three men charged in late-night Northeast armed robberies

Three men have been arrested in a string of armed robberies that have targeted Northeast Philadelphia businesses since August, Philadelphia police said Monday.

Patrick Rowe was charged with 11 counts of robbery and related offenses. Jian Chen was charged with conspiracy and other crimes, police said.

A third man, Corey Lockhart, was charged with a weapons violation after police recovered a silver .45-caliber handgun from him that they say they believe was used in the robberies.

About $9,000 was taken in the 14 robberies that police initially identified as part of the spree.

Video footage recovered from the businesses was notably similar, police said at the time, showing a masked suspect threatening shopkeepers with a handgun and man cash.

In keeping with that pattern, police were expecting another robbery in the area when Rowe, Chen, and Lockhart were stopped early Friday by a 15th District patrol officer, said Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum of Northeast Detectives.

It was around 2:30 a.m. when the officer stopped the men on the 5700 block of Harbison Avenue, police said.

The men were sitting in a silver 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, police said, and the patrol officer - who had responded to one of the earlier robberies at a pizza shop - remembered a witness' recollection of a silver car fleeing the scene.

Rowe, who police said was sitting in the front passenger seat, matched the description of the armed robber. Inside the car, police found the handgun, a black BB gun, a black Velcro mask, a black hooded sweatshirt, and a black scarf.

Later that afternoon, police served search warrants on the three men's homes. They found two rifles, two silver handguns, and a bulletproof vest in Chen's home and ammunition in Lockhart's house, they said.

The three were formally charged Saturday.

Rowe is being held on $5.5 million bail. Chen, who owns the Eclipse, is being held on $350,000 bail.

Lockhart is being held on $50,000 bail.