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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Police have added a previously unreported armed robbery to the two that took place Oct. 26, part of a spree that may have been ended with a Wednesday arrest.

An e-mail exchange with a police spokesman Thursday resulted in Cambridge Day reporting incorrectly that this third Oct. 26 robbery happened Wednesday. The spokesman has since explained that the robbery was reported Wednesday but took place Oct. 26, not that it took place Wednesday, and apologized for the confusion.

This latest reported crime puts the likely number of related armed robberies at nine, according to information supplied by police, with no e-mailed “Citizen Alerts” going out about the final two because Santony Joseph, 23, of Malden, was arrested as a suspect in the robberies only hours after they took place.

In reporting Joseph’s arrest, police said Wednesday that they were looking for one or more accomplices, contributing to the confusion by suggesting unarrested accomplices could be robbing people in a similar way.

The apparent most recent robberies in the spree took place Tuesday night at about 9:45 p.m. at Shepard and Walker streets, with at least one robber fitting the descriptions given by other victims. The Cambridge Chronicle reported that the resident lost his wallet, phone and Apple laptop to the robbers but wasn’t hurt. There was another robbery at 10:55 p.m., and Joseph was arrested at 2:18 a.m. in Medford, communications specialist Dan Riviello said.

There was no citizen alert issued afterward because the arrest of Joseph came only hours later, Riviello said.

The spree apparently began with two robberies Oct. 22. A police press release describes the earliest incidents:

Victims were approached from behind by two black males who immediately brandish a knife and relieved the victims of their wallets, backpacks, laptops and cell phones.

Cambridge Police are looking for two black male suspects, possibly in their late teens or early twenties. One suspect is described as chubby and the other suspect is described as tall with a thin build and dark skin.

There are now three robberies in the spree believed to have taken place Oct. 26, including the one reported Wednesday in which a Somerville man walking with his cousin was confronted by robbers, police said, “stated they had no money and, after engaging the men in conversation, punched one suspect in the face before they fled the scene.”

Somerville residents are tough. It is the first report of a victim striking back.

Other robberies took place Monday at Kirkland and Irving streets and Scott and Bryant streets.

Finally, there were the two incidents Tuesday and, hours later, Joseph’s arrest.