Police: SouthSide Suspect Beat Man Who Owed Money

A SouthSide man, upset that another man owed him money and didn’t pay up, admitted to police he beat up the other man Wednesday night and stole his wallet.

”If you don’t have my sh--, I will kill you,” the victim said he was told by the suspect, Roy Ortega-Caceres. Court records do not say how much the victim owed him.

Police found Ortega-Caceres, 38, inside Lynn’s Athletic Association on E. Ninth Street, not far from the fight scene on the 600 block of William Street. The victim said Ortega-Caceres got away in a red Mercury Cougar. Police found the car parked outside Lynn’s.

Ortega-Caceres said he threw the wallet out the window on the 800 block of William. Police did not recover it, court records say. The value of the wallet and the items inside totaled $150.

But the victim said the wallet was attached to a chain. Police looked inside the Cougar and saw a silver-colored chain with a purple clip on the car’s center console. The victim later identified the chain and clip as those attached to the wallet when Ortega-Caceres took it.

The victim earlier told police he tried to walk away from Ortega-Caceres when he confronted him about the owed money. He said the suspect began punching him in the face and head, took his wallet and left in the red Cougar.

Ortega-Caceres, of 931 Mechanic St., was charged with robbery, simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

He was arraigned late Wednesday by on-duty District Judge Douglas Schlegel of Wind Gap and committed to Northampton County Prison after failing to post $30,000 bail.