Three men were arrested Sunday following what the V.I. Police Department called a “robbery spree” on St. Croix.
According to police, the suspects – Rusiel Encarnacion, Edwin Hendrickson and Francisco Hassell – were taken into custody after being positively identified as the men who robbed three men in Estate Peter’s Rest and two more in Christiansted.
The first robbery occurred at about 1 a.m. Sunday, the second about an hour later, the police said. The suspects were captured within an hour of the second robbery and arrested at about 4:15 a.m.
"This is not business as usual, if we have a lead, we will be relentless in the pursuit of the suspects," St. Croix Acting Police Chief James Parris said. "We will immediately track you down and lock you down.”
Parris thanked the members of the public who gave police descriptions of the suspects and the vehicle.
“We are grateful for their assistance which was vital in the apprehension of the suspects,” he said.
Police said they were dispatched at about 1 a.m. Sunday to an armed robbery that occurred at a business in Estate Peter’s Rest, in which three men were robbed at gunpoint. During the investigation police received information describing three men who fled the scene in a silver Toyota Corolla. Police immediately issued an all-points bulletin on the vehicle.
Shortly after, two men reported to police they had been robbed at about 2 a.m. by two armed men while another man waited in a vehicle. This robbery occurred on Education Street in Christiansted. In both cases the victims were robbed of cell phones and jewelry.
Police spotted and detained the vehicle near the La Reine Shopping center. The occupants of the vehicle, 29-year-old Rusiel Encarnacion of Estate Whim, 27-year-old Edwin Hendrickson of Estate Hannah’s Rest and 27-year-old Francisco Hassell also of Estate Whim were taken into custody and arrested at about 4:15 a.m. Police confiscated three loaded semi-automatic weapons from the suspects as well as jewelry and cell phones belonging to the victims.
The suspects were charged with first-degree-robbery, possession of stolen property and possession of unlicensed weapons, among other charges. Each w3as held on $75,000 bail and remanded to the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility pending their advise of rights hearing.
