'Find My iPhone' App Foils Central Park Robbery, Police Say

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Two teenagers are facing criminal charges after threatening a man with a gun and robbing him as he walked home through Central Park, an NYPD spokesman told Patch.

The 15-year-old robbers wearing ski masks — one a girl and the other a boy — approached a 37-year-old man walking near 96th Street and East Drive around 7:30 p.m. Friday and demanded his cellphone and wallet, an NYPD spokesman said. The male robber showed the man a handgun in his waistband, police said.

The victim handed over his cellphone and wallet and the robbers fled the scene heading west, police told Patch. The man called in the theft to police, which triggered a response from officers on patrol within Central Park, an NYPD spokesman said. Officers were able to use the "find my iPhone" app to track the teenagers to 96th Street and West Drive, police said.

The robbers were arrested and the ski masks, cellphone, wallet and an unloaded pistol were recovered, an NYPD spokesman told Patch. Charges against the teenagers are pending, the spokesman told Patch.

Photo by Patch