In Upper Darby, 'one man crime wave' caught in act
A North Philadelphia man characterized by police as "a one-man crime wave" has been charged with three knifepoint purse robberies in Upper Darby and he is a suspect in two others, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.
A North Philadelphia man characterized by police as "a one-man crime wave" has been charged with three knifepoint purse robberies in Upper Darby and he is a suspect in two others, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.
"The method of operation is the same: A woman walking by herself, comes home late at night, is confronted by a man with a knife who threatens to kill her, and then takes her handbag," Chitwood said Sunday.
About 11 p.m. Friday a woman, 17, returned home from work and put a key in her front door on Wembly Road when a man, later identified by police as Sultan Akbar-Abdullah, 27, put a knife to her neck, and demanded her handbag, Chitwood said.
The woman began screaming, and her father, 43, and uncle, 29, who were in the house, ran outside and chased Akbar-Abdullah to an alley between Wembly and Avon Roads, Chitwood said.
"They caught him. There was a fight. Akbar-Abdullah, who was armed, stabbed the uncle in the shoulder and head," Chitwood said in an interview.
The uncle bit Akbar-Abdullah in the hand, causing him to drop the knife. The two men held the suspect until police arrived, Chitwood said. The uncle was treated at Penn Presbyterian Hospital and released.
"We have had at least five armed robberies where the method of operation is the same," Chitwood said. "So we questioned him about these other robberies."
Police withheld the names of the victim, her father and her uncle.
Akbar-Abdullah, of the 4000 block of North Darien Street in Philadelphia, gave a statement about three of the crimes, including the one on Friday in which he was caught, as well as robberies of a woman on March 18 on Sherbrook Road and another woman March 22 near Veronica and Richfield Roads, Chitwood said.
Police are investigating two additional robberies that the defendant did not admit to, but in which he is "the primary suspect," Chitwood said.
Akbar-Abdullah has been charged with multiple counts of robbery, receiving stolen property, theft, reckless endangerment, possession of an instrument of crime, and aggravated assault. He is in custody. Bail was set at $100,000.
Chitwood laid out a long rap sheet for Akbar-Abdullah: He was arrested in 2008 and 2010 for retail theft in Upper Merion Township. In 2011, he pleaded guilty in Philadelphia to possession of an instrument of crime and simple assault. In 2013, the defendant was charged with retail theft in Philadelphia, convicted and sentenced to nine months' probation.
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