A Staten Island man was arrested and criminally charged with robbing a teenager at gunpoint in Kew Gardens in October after he was detained on Rikers Island for another armed robbery in Jamaica in November.
Robert Petty, 29, of Delafield Avenue in West Brighton, was arrested by the NYPD warrant squad just before Thanksgiving for a robbery on Staten Island, and it was determined by investigators that he robbed a marijuana dealer at gunpoint on Sutphin Boulevard on Nov. 6. Detectives from the Queens Transit Crimes Squad determined that it was Petty who robbed a 17-year-old boy at the Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens subway station on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Petty was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with robbery in the first degree and robbery in the second degree, both armed felony offenses.
According to the complaint, Petty approached the 27-year-old victim on the northbound platform at the station to ask for directions and told him, “I was going to mug you on the train,” and demanded $50 in cash. When the teenager told Petty he had no cash, the defendant pulled out a black firearm and demanded that the youngster send him $100 via a cash app. The teen attempted to comply, but the cash app transaction failed.
Petty forced him out of the station at gunpoint onto Queens Boulevard and noticed a Chase Bank directly over the subway station, according to the investigation. He directed the teen to withdraw $140 from an ATM in the vestibule located at 118-30 Queens Blvd. Detectives found video surveillance that captured the armed robbery, and the victim identified Petty as the defendant.
Following his arraignment before Queens Criminal Court Judge Glenda Hernandez for the Kew Gardens armed robbery, Petty was arraigned on the second complaint charging him with robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree and two counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree.
According to the second criminal complaint, Petty was with an unapprehended accomplice in front of 97-18 Sutphin Blvd. on the afternoon of Nov. 7, when they were purchasing marijuana from an individual. A detective from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica said Petty had $350 in cash in his hand in exchange for the marijuana when he pulled out a black firearm from his backpack, pointed it at the dealer and said, “You know what time it is, don’t make it worse than what it is.”
Petty’s accomplice reached into the dealer’s pockets and took $400 in cash, an Apple watch and Air Pods, an electric scooter and a pair of boxing gloves. Petty and his accomplice ran off. The detective reviewed video surveillance footage from a security camera at 95-24 Allendale St., four blocks away from the crime scene. The victim recognized the individual as the defendant, Robert Petty. The value of the stolen property was in excess of $1,000, according to the criminal complaint.
Judge Hernandez set bail at $10,000 in cash and $30,000 bond in the first case and $10,000 cash and $30,000 bond in the second case. Petty was ordered to return to court on Jan. 7.
