Coatesville 17-year-old taken into custody Friday night
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
The fifth and final suspect in a string of robberies and assaults that plagued Coatesville last month has been apprehended, Coatesville Police said.
Culminating a month-long investigation, Jose Salva, 17, of Coatesville, was taken into custody on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 6:45 p.m., on multiple robbery and conspiracy charges, police said. His co-defendants are Wakeem J. Bowman, 20, Ramon Luis Rivera Ortiz, 17, Zane Robinson, 19, of South Coatesville, and Christopher P. Howard, 19, of Exton.
Police said the investigation began with the arrest of Robinson and Howard on Nov. 14, after two victims of a Nov. 10 robbery in the 300 block of West Harmony Street came to the police station. The victims told detectives that they attempted to retrieve their stolen Samsung phone by dialing its number. The male who answered said they could get the phone returned for $150, the criminal complaint said.
Working with detectives, the victims immediately set up a rendezvous at the post office in the 200 block of Chestnut Street, the complaint said. Before the exchange took place, the victims identified the two men present as the robbers, and Howard and Robinson were apprehended, the complaint said. Howard had the stolen Samsung in his pocket, the complaint said.
The complaint said that Howard also acknowledged the assault of a woman near the “Flats” the same night of the Samsung theft. He said they grabbed her purse but she wouldn’t let go, the complaint said, adding that “they dragged her out into the street, but the woman held on” and they fled, the complaint said. Howard said he participated in “four to five other robberies in Coatesville in the last two to three weeks,” the complaint said.
Police learned the identity of the other suspects, and several days later, Coatesville Police Cpl. Ken Michels spotted Bowman and Ortiz in the 200 block of West Diamond Street and took them into custody. Ortiz, who is being charged as an adult, had drugs and “a very realistic-looking BB gun” in his possession, police said.
Salva, who is also being charging as an adult, was awaiting arraignment on Friday, Dec. 13, court records said.
Why did it take a month later to get the fifth suspect? Maybe the cops and detectives that are Coatesville residents were to occupied trying to comprehend how in the hell City Council was able to pass a 37 percent tax increase.
Alright!! Way to go CPD!! Great job everyone!