#Bridgeport, CT – Jan. 7, 2014-– A 17-year-old city teen faces charges that he robbed a 17-year-old West Hartford youth who answered a Facebook ad for sneakers.
Detectives Martin Heanue and Jorge Cintron responded to a report of a street robbery with a handgun on Hollister Avenue Sunday. There, they met with Officer John Forestier, a school resource officer, and the victims, the teen and his father.
The teen stated that he had arranged to buy a pair of Air Jordan sneakers on a Facebook page called “Connecticut Sneaker Exchange.” The alleged seller used a profile name and the two corresponded to negotiate a selling price. The Bridgeport Police Department is not releasing the profile name because it would identify the suspect, who is a juvenile.
On Sunday, the father and son traveled to Bridgeport to the agreed upon destination and approached two males. One of the males was holding a sneaker box. The teen stated that he asked to look inside the shoebox. Then, the suspects pulled out handguns, ordered them to the ground and took their money and the teen’s cell phone.
The teen victim told police he recognized one of the robbers from the Facebook profile picture of the person with whom he negotiated the purchase.
Forestier brought the victims to a nearby school so the teen could access the Facebook account on a computer, and the teen positively identified the individual as one of the robbers.
The detectives subsequently searched the police department mugshot database using information from that profile name and located a picture of a juvenile who strongly resembled the individual in the profile pictures.
The investigation progressed based on that information and detectives were able to verify the identity of the person from the Facebook page.
The investigation ultimately led police to an address on Alex Street.
Inside that house, police located the suspect and recovered a BB gun from his jacket.
The teen was charged with two counts each of first-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny and counts of risk of injury to a minor and brandishing a facsimile of a firearm. The investigation is ongoing.
Bill Kaempffer
Public Safety Spokesman
Bridgeport Police Department
Bridgeport Fire Department