Professor robbed at gunpoint Monday

Three individuals were robbed at gunpoint in three separate incidents Monday and Wednesday, police said. No injuries were reported in any of the robberies. University Police arrested 20-year-old Charles Saunders and 22-year-old Robert Cooper in connection with a Monday night incident in which a University professor was robbed at gunpoint of $63 in cash, University Police Capt. John Richardson said. University Police did not have the addresses of the two suspects. The two suspects approached the professor as he was walking on the 4100 block of Locust Street at approximately 10:40 p.m., police said. One of the perpetrators brandished a black semiautomatic weapon and demanded money from the professor, police said. University Police Sgt. Thomas Rambo and Officer Al Sulpezio met the professor "immediately" after the robbery while officers Mike Sylvester and Len Harrison apprehended one of the suspects in the University Pinball gameroom at 40th and Spruce streets, Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush said. The officers apprehended both suspects on the 4000 block of Spruce Street, Richardson said, adding that one of the suspects was carrying 16 packets of crack cocaine. The suspects have been charged with robbery and related offenses. Rush said she is surprised that the increased University Police presence west of 40th Street -- and especially in the area of 40th and Spruce streets, which is home to Billybob's restaurant and University Pinball -- has not deterred criminals from targeting victims there. "We're crawling all over this area and [criminals] still have the nerve to rob people," Rush said. "Some of the people who come to partake in the fun and food at 40th and Spruce are also some of the people we've arrested." In an unrelated incident early yesterday morning, three men robbed another man at gunpoint at 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue, police said. The perpetrators took a portable cassette player, house keys and $1 in cash from the victim, police said. University Police Detective John Peterson explained that the suspects fled the scene in a blue-green Ford minivan heading east on Chester Avenue before turning west on the Schuylkill Expressway. University Police Sgt. Ivan Kimble relayed information to a highway patrol unit after observing the vehicle getting on to the interstate highway, Peterson said. Police stopped the minivan on the 2600 block of Bancroft Street in South Philadelphia but were unable to apprehend the suspects. The victim's property, however, was recovered in the incident, which occurred at approximately 2:15 a.m., he noted. And in another unrelated incident, police said that a University employee was robbed at gunpoint inside the trolley station at 36th and Sansom streets at approximately 5 p.m. Monday afternoon. Richardson said two men in their 20s robbed the employee at gunpoint while he stood on the eastbound trolley platform. No further information was available.

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