Oh, stupid criminals—please, don't ever stop being stupid! Today's edition of Brilliant Thinking By Robbery Suspects comes from Staten Island, where a teenager—after threatening an elderly couple with a gun and ransacking their house—allegedly asked for the name of a cab company to make his escape.
According to the Staten Island Advance, Ronald Baker, 19, and an accomplice knocked on the Oakwood home of an 85-year-old man and 71-year-old woman. It seems the suspects learned from their late grandson that they had valuables in the house.
Baker and his unidentified accomplice pushed their way inside when one of the residents answered the door, said the source.
Brandishing a gun, Baker forced the couple to the ground, the source said. He allegedly repeated those actions when the couple's daughter came downstairs.
The suspects rifled through the house, swiping four watches, jewelry, a knife and an undisclosed amount of cash, whose collective value exceeded $15,000, said authorities.
Before leaving, the suspects got the name of a cab company from the victims and called for a car to pick them up, said the source.
The victims had been shut in a closet "secured by a chair" but they managed to get out. They called the cops, who then contacted the cab company. Cops were waiting for Baker at his destination and they caught him after a brief chase. Baker was charged with burglary and robbery, and his accomplice is still at large.
