3 charged in alleged phone scam robberies
A would-be cellphone buyer from Lebanon got a little more than he bargained for Saturday night, police say.
Now three York-area residents are being held in the York County Jail for what police say was an armed robbery that garnered $180 and has been connected to three other robberies.
A Lebanon resident wanted to buy a smartphone that Teonna Lynn Neely, 19, of York, posted on a marketplace app. He and a friend drove to meet her around 7 p.m. Saturday at the 300 block of East Market Street in York to purchase the device, according to a police affidavit. But when they met up with Neely, she had no phone and was accompanied by Allen Theodore Claiborne, 21, of Springettsbury Township.
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The would-be buyer told police that he immediately got back into the passenger seat of the vehicle, but his friend, who was the driver, was blocked from reentering his vehicle by Claiborne and a second male, Shane Terrence Bennett, 26, of Springettsbury Township.
The two men then demanded money from the driver through "yelling and cursing," according to the document, and that Claiborne shoved a "small dark colored gun with the round cylinder" against the driver's stomach. The driver handed over his wallet, which contained no cash, according to charging documents, but the passenger handed over $180 when Claiborne demanded it.
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The trio of alleged robbers then walked away from the area and the two victims were able to drive away and report the incident to police.
Neely, held in lieu of $50,000 bail, faces charges related to conspiracy, robbery and possession of an unlicensed revolver. Claiborne, held in lieu of $75,000 bail, faces the same charges. Bennett, held in lieu of $50,00 bail, faces the same charges except for the weapons charges.
The robbery is connected to three other robberies within which victims were lured into the city for the sale of electronic devices by the offenders who posed as sellers, according to a York City Police news release.
The websites "offerupnow.com" and "craigslist.com" were the sources of contact for the victims and offenders.
Police urge the public to make any transaction in a public place, particularly on the front steps of a police station, according to the release.