All involved pedestrians and appear to be unrelated
By: Kara Fitzpatrick
Four robberies, which involved pedestrians being strong-armed on the street for money, have occurred in Princeton Borough this month, police said. Arrests have been made in three of the four incidents, police added.
Police Chief Anthony Federico, in a monthly report given Tuesday to the Borough Council, said the robberies appear to be unrelated and involve a "cross-section of people in the community."
In the first of four incidents, Edgar Mijangos-Donis, 20, of Princeton was charged with robbery and attempted theft after an April 3 incident when he allegedly threatened a pedestrian on Lytle Street just before midnight. According to police, the victim fled on foot and called the police. The victim was not injured.
After a police investigation, Mr. Mijangos-Donis was charged and transported to the Mercer County jail, where he was held in default of $50,000 bail. Lt. Nick Sutter said, to the best of his knowledge, Mr. Mijangos-Donis has not been released.
On April 7 just after 10 p.m., a 45-year-old Trenton man reported that his wallet was taken from him forcefully while he was walking on Witherspoon Street. The victim, who was not injured, described the robber as a 6-foot, 280-pound black male. No arrests have been made regarding this case, Lt. Nick Sutter said.
And earlier this week, police charged two juveniles with robbery after they were reportedly threatening other juveniles and taking money from them. According to police, the juveniles were involved in an April 10 robbery that occurred in the courtyard adjacent to the library and an April 11 robbery that occurred on Washington Road near Prospect Avenue. The charged juveniles were placed in the Mercer County Youth House after being processed. No one was injured as a result of the robberies.
Following Chief Federico’s report, Councilwoman Wendy Benchley said she was "sorry to see that we don’t have enough policeman to have a safe neighborhood unit" which includes police patrolling on bicycle.
According to Chief Federico, three officers are in training and slated to be finished in the next month and a half. He said once that training is complete, two officers should be available for a bike patrol unit.

