Brooklyn 2-Year-Old Mugged for Bracelet, 3-Year-Old Robbed for Chain
A Brooklyn 2-year-old was mugged in an elevator for her bracelet while standing with her pregnant mother July 6. The ugly trend of stealing from toddlers continues, as this was the first of two young ones to be robbed in the area.
The Brooklyn 2-year-old was mugged, her $300 bracelet snatched off her wrist by Michael Andrews, a 30-year-old criminal. Destiny Maizanche's cries did not deter the man from robbing her and her pregnant mother, Adriani Espinal, at 7:20 a.m. in a Flushing Avenue apartment building.
"He didn't care that I was pregnant and he was stealing from a little girl," Espinal told The New York Post. "He grabbed my necklace and then he went for the baby. I told him to leave the baby alone because she was crying."
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The mother didn't just stand idly by while her daughter was attacked, however. Her husband, Romulo Cruz, asserted that she tried to fight him off, but was unsuccessful.
"He grabbed [Adriani] hard and grabbed a necklace and an earring," Cruz told the Post. "Then he looked down at the baby. When he went for the bracelet, Adriani attacked him and started hitting him with her keys."
The struggle was more than he bargained for apparently, so Andrews got off on the second floor and escaped. His greed would be his undoing, however, as later that night, at about 7:00 p.m., he robbed another adult for $200 and a cell phone.
Andrews was arrested July 25 after Espinal pointed him out in a lineup at the 79th Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Charges are pending.
The string of muggings continued with 3-year-old Harvey Hernandez, who was robbed by two men in the lobby of his building July 10 just half a mile away. The toddler wore a $400 chain with a gold medallion, but the men had no regard for his age; they ripped it off his neck while he sat in a stroller by his mother.
"How could he do this to a helpless little baby!" Harvey's mother, Riyana Guerrero, cried to the Post.
The assailants' whereabouts are unknown.
