9th Precinct Cops Apprehend Armed Robbers on E. 14th Street
An East Village fruit peddler was held up at gunpoint by four thugs. Four midnight-shift patrol officers swiftly responded to the scene and started making arrests.
| 27 Apr 2025 | 04:41
Patrol Officers Wu, Altman, Smyth, and Wan. (
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While criminal mischief and mayhem are staples of the tabloid press, there are times, perhaps less well covered, when police proactively take action, and score arrests.
Finding out about these successes isn’t always easy, but in the age of social media, certain police commands can and do toot their own horn.So it was with the 9th Precinct, at 321 E. 5th St., Captain Pamela Jeronimo, commanding officer, who recently took to X to announce:
“Commendable work by our midnight Patrol Officers Wu, Altman, Smyth and Wan who responded to a Robbery in progress. They were able to safely apprehend two perpetrators and recover a loaded firearm.”
Commendable indeed!
Details are as follows:
On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at approximately 5:50am, police responded to a robbery in progress in front of 150 E. 14th St. in the East Village.
Upon the cops’ arrival, a 36-year-old male reported to police that while working a fruit stand at the corner of East 14th Street and Third Avenue, four males surrounded him.
One of the males displayed a firearm, placed it on the side of the fruit peddler’s neck and demanded property.
The individuals removed approximately $500 from the fruit man. A canvass of the local area was conducted, and two of the four individuals were apprehended.
During a search made coincident to his lawful arrest, a loaded .380 caliber firearm was recovered from suspect #1.
Suspect #2 is 16 years old and, because he’s considered a juvenile, no details of his arrest were made public.
The cops stayed on the case, and on April 18, 2025, suspect #3 was taken into custody. Suspect #4 remains on the loose.
Suspect #1 is Joseph Lette, 19-year-old male, of 200 Broadhurst Ave., in Harlem. The charges against him include: armed robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, and willful defacement of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property
Suspect #2, the juvenile, is facing the same charges.
Suspect #3 is Victor Thompson-Avila, 18-year-old male, 492 First Ave. in Kips Bay—which is the address of the Nicholas Scoppetta Children’s Center run by of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services. It’s unclear why Thompson-Avila would have that address.
The charges Thompson-Avila is facing are the same as those of his confederates, minus the stolen property charge.
While Joseph Lette made bail on April 18, at press time Victor Thompsom-Avila remains on Rikers Island in lieu of $50,001 bail.
His top charge of first degree robbery is a Class B felony.