Jersey City boys held in robbery of $4, cards

[BabyBlue91]

The following story made the front page of my hometown paper today, The Jersey Journal. I immediately thought about the man in Milwaukee who was assaulted by a gang of children in September, only to die of his injuries a few days later.

Something to think about: the fact that any of the children, both the victims and the perpetrators, were outdoors so late on a school night, and that the perpetrators weren't even in their own town, wreaking havoc!

Comments are welcome.
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Jersey City boys held in robbery of $4, cards

Wednesday, December 04, 2002

By Ronald Leir
Journal staff writer

Football trading cards and $4 in cash were all five boys got Monday night when they mugged two young brothers outside their Bayonne home, police said yesterday. All five boys, from Jersey City, were caught shortly after the crime, and two were caught as they prepared to board a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train to make their getaway, according to police.

Police Director Mark Smith said the incident took place at 9:09 p.m. on Broadway near 35th Street, as the brothers, 9 and 11, were playing on the sidewalk near their home.

Smith said the brothers were approached by five boys, whose ages ranged from 9 to 13, who surrounded the brothers. A 13-year-old boy punched the brothers in the head and took the money and the football cards from the older brother, Smith said.

The 13-year-old then made the brothers remove their jackets, Smith said, and went through the jacket pockets but apparently found nothing in them. Smith said the five boys then ran away.

Smith said the brothers' father came out of their house and saw that his sons had just been mugged. The father flagged down a passing Bayonne police car. The brothers gave a description of the boys to Officer Walter Rogers, Smith said.

Four minutes later, three of the boys were stopped by Officer Frank Amato at 41st Street and Avenue C. Shortly after that, Officers James Wade and Paul Somers grabbed a 9-year-old and the 13-year-old at the Light Rail station at 45th Street and Avenue E, as they waited for a train, Smith said.

Smith said that all five boys were identified by the brothers as the boys who took their money and cards. All five were charged with robbery and sent to the Hudson County Youth Detention Center in Secaucus to await possible court hearings, Smith said.

The brothers didn't require medical attention and the stolen items were recovered, Smith said.