This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Exterior, Stamford Courthouse, Sept. 20, 2019.
Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media
STAMFORD — A city teenager allegedly stole a woman's purse in what police are calling a “senseless and violent” robbery.
Roberto Carlos Herrera-Aleman, 18, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with first-degree robbery in connection to the Jan. 11 crime.
Stamford police officer Kevin Becroft writes in an arrest warrant that police responded to 201 Broad St. around 8:10 p.m. on Jan. 11 on reports of a robbery in the area.
The 68-year-old victim told police she left the Ferguson Library around 8 p.m. that night and turned east on Broad Street. She said that as she walked on the crosswalk near Gay Street, however, she “suddenly felt someone come up behind her and push her” to the ground, according to the warrant. The fall fractured the woman’s nose, the warrant said.
As the woman fell, she felt somebody “grabbed her tote bag” and then saw them ride off on a bike, police wrote in the warrant.
Using security cameras in the area, officers were able to track the bicyclist to the area of Cove Road, where they lost their view of him. Police later recovered the stolen tote bag, which was missing cash, a cellphone and two credit cards, according to police.
A day after the robbery, officers located a person fitting the description of the bicyclist in the area of Maple Avenue. The man, later identified as Herrera-Aleman, was in possession of the cellphone missing from the victim’s purse.
At the time, Herrera-Aleman was charged with sixth-degree larceny. During a conversation with police, however, Herrera-Aleman admitted to robbing the woman a day earlier, according to the warrant.
“This is just another example of an excellent collaborative effort by BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigations), Patrol and NOC (Narcotics and Organized Crime) officers that led to the swift identification and apprehension of this violent suspect,” Assistant Police Chief Richard Conklin said.
At Herrera-Aleman’s arraignment Thursday, Judge Kevin Randolph lowered the 18-year-old’s bond from $300,000 to $75,000. He remains in custody, according to the state’s judicial website.
Herrera-Aleman is next expected to appear in court on March 27.