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Last Words
Mugging suspect's poor strategy
Police say he tried to retrieve cell phone
BY ALEXANDER LANE Star-Ledger Staff
05/02/2003
A mugger who dropped his cell phone while allegedly robbing two Rutgers University students was arrested after he tried to get it back from a police officer.
Avenel resident Justin Graci, 19, and another man approached two students at Hamilton and Union streets Saturday at 3:30 a.m. and demanded some money, police said. When the victims refused, Graci's partner punched one of them in the face, prompting him to turn over $20, Lt. Thomas Selesky said.
In the mugging, Graci dropped his cell phone and ran off.
Police officer James Bobadilla, having been called to the scene, was holding the phone a few minutes later, when it rang.
Bobadilla answered it. It was Graci.
"You have my phone," Graci said.
Bobadilla, who did not mention that he was a police officer, arranged to meet Graci in the entrance of the Howard Johnson Hotel on Route 1. A grateful Graci promised to give him $10 for his trouble.
A few minutes later, Graci called again. Instead of the $10, he wondered, would Bobadilla accept a bag of marijuana? Bobadilla, again failing to mention that he was a police officer, agreed.
Bobadilla, his partner and the two victims -- Nathan Birmingham, 18, and Aaron Shapiro, 19 -- pulled up to the hotel in a patrol car. The students confirmed the man in the lobby was their attacker, but Graci made a run for it, police said.
The officers caught him on Tunison Road, kept the cell phone, took the marijuana and charged him with robbery, possession of marijuana and resisting arrest, Selesky said.
Read the full article at NJ.com
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