Cops: 2 charged in cabbie's armed robbery

Two people with a gun were arrested Friday at Bethpage Motel after they forced a cabbie to drive them around, then robbed him, Nassau police said.

At about 3:40 a.m., an All Season Taxi driver picked up Ashley Batewell, 17, at the motel, police said. Batewell then pointed a handgun at the driver and ordered him to pick up Richard A. Schroko, 22, at a nearby bar, police said.

After the driver complied, both passengers told him to go to an address on Harrison Avenue, where Schroko put the gun to the driver's head and demanded all his money, police said.

The driver gave them an unknown amount of cash, police said.

Second Precinct officers went to Bethpage Motel and arrested the two, finding Xanax, a common drug for anxiety, in Batewell's possession, police said.

Batewell, of 16 Marksman Lane in Levittown, and Schroko, of 76 Newbridge Rd. in East Meadow, were each charged with first-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Batewell also was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Batewell is to be sentenced Oct. 16 after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, said Chris Munzing, a spokesman for Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.