Three strangers asked a man if he wanted pizza, then beat him and stole his cigarettes and house keys as he was walking home from a city bar early Thursday.
Manfredo Pagan, 18, 1418 Linden St., Bianca Rivera, 20, 928 Beech St., and Timothy Towers, 25, same address, followed Kenneth Otto down Grimes Court from the Rusty Nail, 732 S. Irving Ave., police said. Mr. Otto became nervous when he heard them begin to run and shifted his cellphone into his shirt.
The trio caught up to Mr. Otto at 738 Maple St. and asked if he wanted pizza. Further frightened by the bizarre question, Mr. Otto knocked on the door of 738 Maple St. and asked for help.
Mr. Towers then walked up on the porch and began punching Mr. Otto in the face, police said.
Ms. Rivera noticed Mr. Otto's hand on his pocket and suspected he was phoning for help.
"Get him; he's holding his pockets; check them," she said, according to her arrest affidavit. "He has a phone; he said he's calling 911."
They all kicked and punched Mr. Otto as he lay on the ground. Mr. Towers went through his pockets. He took Mr. Otto's house keys, about $6 and a pack of Newport 100s, police said.
When his attackers left, Mr. Otto yelled for help, attracting attention from police. They immediately canvassed the area and found the three suspected attackers. The keys, $6 and cigarettes were recovered. No pizza was found.
Mr. Towers is charged with robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, simple assault, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking. He was sent to Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $25,000. His preliminary hearing is Wednesday.
Mr. Pagan and Ms. Rivera are both charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking and simple assault. Mr. Pagan was sent to Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $5,000 bail; Ms. Rivera was released on $5,000 unsecured bail. Their preliminary hearings are also Wednesday.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter