Three Men Arrested for Armed Robberies in Hillcrest
Friday, October 26, 2012 • 9:18am
PATERSON, NJ – Three young men from the 1st Ward committed a bizarre string of armed robberies in the Hillcrest neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, sticking up the first floor resident of a Preakness Avenue home after they couldn’t get into the second floor apartment, police said.
Then one of the men committed another armed robbery on Edmund Avenue while fleeing the scene of the initial crimes, police said.
It all started at 1:51 pm when Paterson police received a 911 call from a resident who said two males were at his second-floor apartment door with masks and a gun, trying to get in, according to Capt. Heriberto Rodriguez.
Police Officers from the Paterson patrol and traffic division arrived and detained two men nearby, according to authorities.
One of the men, 18-year-old Tyreek Harrell of N. 7th Street, was identified as one of the two men who tried to get into the Preakness Avenue apartment, police said. The other, 20-year-old Louis Wilson of N. 3rd Street, was identified as being a “peripheral accomplice,’’ police said.
Shortly after the first 911 call, Paterson police received a second 911 call from a passerby who witnessed a robbery that was taking place in front of a home located on the 200 block of Edmund Avenue, according to authorities said. Officers from the patrol and traffic divisions responded to the scene and detained 21-yearold Jamar Lovett of Clinto Street, police said. Lovett was identified as the assailant who committed the robbery on Edmund Avenue, according to poice.
A subsequent investigation by city detectives identified Lovett as being the second man accomplice who committed the robbery at the Preakness Avenue home with Harrel, police said.
Police then determined that subsequent to their failed attempt to get into the second-floor apartment of the Preakness Avenue home, both Lovett and Harrell did get into the first floor, where they robbed an additional victim at gun-point, according to authorities.
The three men all face various robbery and weapons charges, including possession of hollow nose bullets, police said.
The officers who played a major role in making the arrests were Sgt. Kelly Hemming, Benny. Ramos, Paul Tafuri, Anthony DeSopo, Nelson Paez, Miguel Santiago and Christopher Oji, according to Rodriguez.
