Crime & Safety
Cabbie Robber Faces 6½ to 20 Years in Prison
Judge hands down stiff sentence to SouthSide robber, despite questions about witnesses.
A Bethlehem man who was convicted in an April SouthSide stickup of a cab driver was sentenced to serve six-and-a-half to 20 years in state prison on Friday.
Manuel Martinez, 44, got the stiff prison sentence from Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano despite questions that were raised about the truthfulness of the prosecution’s witnesses, according to The Express Times. Martinez’s attorney, Tony Rybak, said he will appeal.
According to the arrest record, Martinez walked up to the cab at Broadway and Fiot Street early Easter morning and pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at the cab driver’s head and demanded cash.
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He ran off with $156, but a passenger in the cab told police she saw Martinez enter a home at 715 Broadway, near the robbery scene.
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