Stolen phone leads Yonkers cops to robbers
Photo credit: Susan Stava | A police car in Yonkers. (June 13, 2012)
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Yonkers police on Wednesday used the GPS tracking system on a stolen cellphone to lead them to a pair of teenagers who they say robbed and beat a jogger on the Old Croton Aqueduct.
Leon Lucas, 16, and Joshua Kesney, 17, both students who live at a Hastings-on-Hudson residential treatment center, were charged with first-degree robbery and second-degree assault, both felonies, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. Lucas was also charged with possession of stolen property.
The pair each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The robbery occurred about 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, when the 50-year-old victim was struck from behind by the two teenagers who had just run past him on the Aqueduct between Arthur Place and Odell Avenue, police said. The alleged victim was knocked to the ground and the attackers allegedly punched and kicked him as they stole his cellphone, $50, cigarettes and a lighter.
Police searched the area using a description of the suspects provided by the alleged victim, whose name authorities did not release. Meanwhile, a relative of the victim tracked the phone through its built-in GPS system, police said.
The phone was tracked to the area of David Lane, near the campus of the Graham School, a residential treatment center for about 300 troubled youths, some of whom live on-campus, police said. Both Lucas and Kesney are students at the center.
Police said they spotted teens who matched the description given by the victim and began to approach them. At that point, the teens fled toward the Greystone Metro-North station, with Yonkers and Hastings-on-Hudson police giving chase as the MTA cut off power to the railroad tracks.
The two accused robbers were caught a few minutes later behind the Riverview Catering Hall on Warburton Avenue in Yonkers, police said.
Jess Dannhauser, the president of Graham-Windham, the not-for-profit child welfare agency that runs the Graham School, expressed sympathy for the victim.
"We strive to be good neighbors to the generous people who live near and often support the young people at the Graham School," Dannhauser said. "We do not condone or tolerate any behavior to the contrary."
Lucas and Kesney were awaiting arraignment Thursday in Yonkers City Court.
Lawyers for the two teens could not be located.
