Police: Get-away cab ride helps nab robbery suspect

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

A man was in police custody after Cricket Wireless store on Altamont Avenue in Rotterdam, Jan. 30, 2018.

ROTTERDAM — A man was in custody Tuesday, after he pulled a knife on a Rotterdam cellphone store clerk, tied her up and fled the store in a taxi cab, police said.

The incident happened late Tuesday morning, and police soon tracked the cab into Schenectady where they arrested Keith L. Mancini, 43, of 1207 Webster St., police said.

The clerk was unharmed, police said.

Mancini now faces first-degree robbery, along with weapons, larceny, menacing and unlawful imprisonment counts.

The incident happened shortly after 11 a.m. at the Cricket Wireless on Altamont Avenue, Rotterdam police Lt. William Male said. According to police, Mancini entered the store and started speaking with the clerk. He then pulled a knife on her and demanded cash, Male said.

The suspect then forced the clerk to the back of the store, tied her up, and he made off with a bank deposit bag. Police were still determining how much he got, but it was believed to be less than $1,000.

The clerk soon freed herself and called police. Responding officers learned the suspect fled in a cab. A check with the cab company confirmed they’d picked up someone at the store and dropped him off at the Dollar General on State Street. Police arrested Mancini near the corner of Albany and Hulett streets, Male said.

A woman who answered the phone at the wireless store Tuesday afternoon did not answer questions.

Mancini was arraigned and ordered sent to jail.

The robbery was the second store robbery in Rotterdam in two days. On Monday, a man threatened employees at the Stewart’s on Hamburg Street with a knife while taking items, police said. Police soon tracked down that suspect and arrested him.