Two teenagers were arrested in connection with a string of early-morning gunpoint robberies in Center City and North Philadelphia this month, including one outside the Four Seasons Hotel, authorities said Thursday.
Kyeme Hunter and Jaiden Bethea, both 19, were charged with seven counts each of robbery, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, firearms offenses, and related crimes.
They were being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on $1,050,000 bail.
The arrests bring to a close a weeks-long investigation in which police asked the public for help in identifying the two people responsible for a string of crimes that began early Oct. 2 and ended the following week.
Hunter and Bethea wore ski masks and, in some instances, wielded firearms, including a weapon equipped with a distinct blue laser, Capt. Jason Smith of the Central Detective Division said when announcing their arrests.
They carried out at least seven robberies, he said, and targeted pedestrians who were carrying bags, including someone they held at gunpoint outside the Four Seasons at 19th and Arch Streets.
The men stole a variety of items, from cell phones and a laptop to credit cards and bags of clothing, Smith said.
They carried out some of the crimes in a black Honda Accord that was reported stolen in New Jersey and discovered abandoned on the 2200 block of West Sergeant Street in North Philadelphia on Oct. 5, he said.
Hunter was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home on the 100 block of East Hortter Street in East Mount Airy, according to police.
Then on Wednesday, police searched a home on the 2200 block of West Harold Street in North Philadelphia that was connected to Bethea, and they arrested him there without incident.
There, they recovered two loaded firearms, a 9mm Luger pistol with an obliterated serial number and blue laser attachment, and a polymer 9mm ghost gun, Smith said.
Those weapons were “very similar to the two firearms used by the offenders,” he said.
Police also recovered more than $11,000 in cash and a key fob programming device, a tool commonly used to steal push-to-start vehicles.
Hunter and Bethea are expected to appear in court next month. They have yet to hire attorneys, court records show.