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Manheim Township police charged three Lancaster city teens — and have identified a fourth suspect — in the baseball-bat beating and robbery of five teenagers last week, officials said Monday.
Police believe the four suspects, all males, jumped a group of younger teens July 27 near East Petersburg Park on Pine Street, police said.
Christian Rivera-Rodriguez, 18, of Juniata Street, two 17-year-olds and a fourth suspect, also in his late teens, each are being charged with robbery, aggravated assault and conspiracy, all felonies.
The fourth suspect, who has cooperated with police, is expected to be charged this week, investigators said. Those charges were being prepared Monday night, police said.
Rivera-Rodriguez is at Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail. The two juveniles are being charged as adults and are at Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center, where they are awaiting a Wednesday arraignment.
Police said the younger teens were chosen as victims in a case of mistaken identity.
"It's not a random incident," Manheim Township police spokesman Sgt. Tom Rudzinski said. "It was more or less a targeted thing, but not targeted at that group."
"Nonetheless, there is no place for this anywhere, let alone at a family park," the sergeant said. "We were very aggressive in going after them immediately."
The victims, East Petersburg males ages 14 to 16, were skateboarding near the park about 7 p.m. when a car pulled up and four males got out, police said.The older males demanded money, prompting the younger group to run. However, the suspects caught at least two of them from behind, police said.
According to police, some of the robbers used baseball bats to strike two of the younger boys in the head. Both victims were treated at a local hospital — one requiring stitches — and released, police said.
The alleged robbers made off with cash, a cell phone and other items, police said.
Surveillance cameras at the park filmed part of the incident, police said. That video, along with witness statements and physical evidence — including fingerprints — found in the getaway car, implicated the four city males as suspects, police said.
Rudzinski said the two juvenile suspects are being tried as adults because of "the seriousness of what they did."
"Baseball bats, young kids in a park," he said, "that's serious."
E-mail: bhambright@lnpnews.com
