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Steven Cardona — who was being held on $100,000 bail — is suspected in similar holdups in other towns, Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin C. Fox said this afternoon.
The boys said the robber told them via Facebook to meet them at the Cedar Hill Shopping Center on Aug. 21 after he agreed to buy a new pair of Air Jordan 3 Retro sneakers from them for a marked-up, resale price of $360.
The boys rode their bicycles to the shopping center, where they got a message from Cardona telling them to meet him in a different area of the parking lot, Fox said.
When they did, he “pulled out a switchblade knife and demanded that they turn over the sneakers,” the chief said. “The boys were further told that they would be stabbed if they attempted to follow him or contact police.”
Cardona then took off with the sneakers, he said.
Detective Sgt. Joseph Soto and Detective Michael Musto “used computer forensics and IP addresses” to identify Cardona.
They charged him with first-degree armed robbery and various weapons offenses.
Police in other jurisdictions are now eyeing him for similar crimes, the chief said.
“Fortunately these boys were uninjured, but clearly the outcome could have been different,” Fox said.
He urged parents to “discuss this situation with their children so that they understand the dangers of meeting strangers in such a manner.”
IMAGE: Courtesy WYCKOFF PD / POLICE CAR: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving
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