Mugging spree warrants filed

WILKES-BARRE – City police on Friday filed arrest warrants for two adults and five juveniles in connection with a three-day spree of robberies and assaults last month.

Police identified the suspects, who remain at large, as: Quincy Michael Patrick, 18, of Larksville; Jahmel Rashon Wadley, 20, Patrick Robertson, 16, Lahmel Cephas, 16, and Russell Patrick, 16, all from Wilkes-Barre; Anthony Dedes, 16, of Scranton; and a 14-year-old juvenile. They are facing robbery and conspiracy-related charges, police said.

The group drove around the city at various times from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22, robbing people who were walking on sidewalks, police said.

The Times Leader first reported on Jan. 24 that police got a break in the case during a traffic stop the previous day on South Hancock Street involving a stolen vehicle.

The robberies involved a firearm, said police, and several victims were injured in the attacks, which occurred on East Main, Arch and Lehigh streets.

A man walking on Old River Road and a Wilkes University student walking on West River Road reportedly were mugged by a group of people driving in a white four-door Toyota on Jan. 23. Police spotted the suspected vehicle occupied by five people traveling on Park Avenue.

The driver, identified in arrest records as Dedes, failed to stop and turned onto South Hancock Street. Dedes stopped in the 300 block of South Hancock Street, at which time all the occupants abandoned the vehicle, according to arrest records.

Dedes was captured after a foot chase, and Wadley and Robertson were apprehended near the vehicle, police said.

The Toyota was reported stolen to city police in mid-January.