Two 19-year-olds charged in string of early-October gunpoint robberies across Philadelphia

Philadelphia police have charged two 19-year-old men in a series of armed street robberies earlier this month, among them a holdup outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Center City.

Kyeme Hunter and Jaiden Bethea each face seven counts, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The charges include robbery, conspiracy, aggravated assault and gun-related crimes, among others. The Inquirer said the pair were jailed at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility with bail of $1,050,000 apiece. NBC10 put bail at slightly over $1 million.

CBS Philadelphia and NBC10 both reported that police called the robberies crimes of opportunity, with victims chosen because they had bags. Capt. Jason Smith of the Central Detective Division told reporters the two men hid their faces with ski masks, sometimes showed guns, including one with a distinctive blue laser, and committed no fewer than seven robberies, according to the Inquirer.

The outlets gave somewhat different accounts of when and where the crimes happened. NBC10 placed them from Oct. 2 through Oct. 6 in Northern Liberties, Spring Garden, Fairmount and near Temple University. The Inquirer said the spree started Oct. 2, ended the next week and spanned Center City and North Philadelphia.

Outside the Four Seasons, at 19th and Arch streets, a 26-year-old was pushed to the ground, NBC10 reported. Across the robberies, the men took phones, a laptop, credit cards, wallets, jewelry and bags of clothing, the two outlets said.

Smith said a black Honda Accord, stolen in New Jersey, was used in some of the robberies and was later left behind on West Sergeant Street in North Philadelphia, where police found it Oct. 5, the Inquirer reported. NBC10 said investigators had already tied stolen Accords to the case and also pointed to gloves as evidence.

Officers took Hunter into custody Tuesday afternoon at his residence in East Mount Airy, on East Hortter Street, the Inquirer reported. A day later, police searched a North Philadelphia house on West Harold Street linked to Bethea and arrested him there with no resistance.

Inside, investigators found two loaded handguns: a Luger 9mm whose serial number had been scratched off and which had a blue laser attached, and a polymer 9mm ghost gun, according to the Inquirer. Smith said the guns were "very similar to the two firearms used by the offenders." The Inquirer also reported police seized upward of $11,000 in cash plus a device for programming key fobs, which thieves use to take vehicles with push-button ignitions. NBC10 likewise reported the money and the laser-equipped guns.

Police told NBC10 one of the men has a criminal history and the other has none.

According to the Inquirer, both are due in court next month, and court records indicated neither had retained a lawyer. Both are presumed innocent.

Compiled by True News from reporting by CBS Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer and NBC10 Philadelphia. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/606