City Woman Charged in Beating and Robbery

A city woman was arrested Thursday for her part in a brutal robbery and assault that left a man severely beaten and bloodied in a West Bethlehem parking lot earlier this week.

Lionette Cruz, 22, of 1975 W. Broad St., is facing felony assault, robbery and other charges in the incident as continue to search for two others who were involved.

Police were called to the Lehigh Valley Transportation parking lot at 1801 W. Market St. at 2 a.m. Sunday for a report of a man who had been shoved from a green minivan.

When police arrived, Christopher Shuman was covered in blood, with a puncture wound to his lower left abdomen and “numerous lacerations” to his head and face, according to the arrest affidavit.

Shuman was taken to in Fountain Hill where he was admitted for the puncture wound, a broken nose and two head lacerations that required a total of 16 stitches, according to the arrest warrant.

Police did not get to interview Shuman at his room in the hospital until Tuesday afternoon, according to the warrant. At that point, Shuman gave the police the following account of events:

Shuman and Cruz met at Stahley’s a bar at 1826 Hanover Ave., on the East Side of Allentown. There Shuman and a male friend of his and Cruz and a female friend of hers talked at the bar for a while. After some casual conversation, the two women invited Shuman and his friend over for a housewarming party.

The men accepted the invitation. However, Shuman’s friend told the others that he needed to drive his sister home before he could go on to the party. Cruz and her friend suggested that rather than wait for his friend, Shuman should go with them in their vehicle.

Shuman left with the two women in a green minivan with New York license plates. The minivan stopped at the parking lot at 1801 W. Market St., which prompted Shuman to ask what was going on.

At that point, another man, who had been hiding in the back of the minivan, struck Shuman in the back of his head with a “hard unknown object,” and continued to hit him in the head and face, while Cruz and her female friend started to kick and punch him.

One of the attackers went through Shuman's pockets and took $140 in cash. Shuman was ultimately able to jump out of the van to escape his attackers.

Shuman identified Cruz as one of his attackers in a photo lineup provided to him by city police, the affidavit says. Shuman also told police that she was driving the minivan.

Cruz was charged with recklessly endangering another person, theft and receiving stolen property, in addition to robbery and aggravated assault. She was arraigned before and committed to Lehigh County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.