4 Teens Rob Man Walking Through Central Park: Police

CENTRAL PARK, NY — A man walking through Central Park Sunday night was robbed by a group of four teenagers.

The 25-year-old victim was walking in the park in the vicinity of West 67th Street and West Drive when he was approached by a group of four men, police told Patch. The four teenagers forced the man to hand over his wallet, containing $50, during a strong-arm robbery, police said.

All four suspects appeared to be in their late teenage years, an NYPD spokesman told Patch.

The victim was not injured during the robbery.

Robberies and Grand Larcenies are down in Central Park this year, according to NYPD crime statistics (last recorded on Nov. 20). So far in 2016 there have been 18 reported robberies and 42 reported grand larcenies compared to 24 robberies and 49 grand larcenies at this time in 2015, according to Compstat data.

But crime in Manhattan's largest park seems to be on the rise.

On Nov. 30 a woman pushing a stroller was knocked down and robbed by three teenagers — who were later arrested — and on Nov. 28 a woman walking through the center of the park was assaulted and robbed by a group of four teenagers.

It is unknown if Sunday's robbery is related to those previous crimes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Photo by Patch