Teens With Pellet Gun Robbed Lehigh Student, Police Say

Two more Bethlehem teenagers are being charged as adults in the June armed robbery of a Lehigh University student in which a backpack containing a laptop and cell phones were taken.

Rafael A. Negron, 17, of 609 Wyandotte St., and Jose C. Andino, 17, of 58 W. Union Boulevard, were both arrested and charged on Tuesday.

Two other teens, Jose Antonio Rivera, 17, of 1110 Dover Lane, and Luis Daniel Maldonado, 18, of 1042 Essex Court, were arrested almost immediately after the June 26 robbery on Lehigh’s campus. All of the stolen items were recovered.

The teens are charged with pointing the gun at the Lehigh student shortly after 1 a.m. at Taylor Street and Memorial Walkway on the Lehigh campus. Inside the backpack was an Apple laptop valued at around $1,000, police said.

The weapon the teens allegedly used was a CO2 pellet handgun. Although not as lethal as conventional guns, the pellet guns can cause injury or death, according to several websites.

After their arrest, Rivera and Maldonado told Lehigh University Police that Negron was also involved in the robbery. Police also learned that the teens were at the home of Negron’s cousin on Broadway before the robbery, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The cousin told police that her boyfriend, Andino, was also with the group, the affidavit said.

Negron and Andino were both charged with robbery and criminal conspiracy—both felonies, theft, receiving stolen property, simple assault and possession of an instrument of a crime.

Both were arraigned before on-duty District Judge Roy Manwaring and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.