STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A 21-year-old man was part of a group that robbed a victim at gunpoint in a Concord parking lot, authorities allege.
The defendant also is accused of participating with a group in bump-and-rob scams where they stole luxury cars in the Bronx.
Staling Pereyra of Park Hill Avenue in Clifton was arrested on March 11 in connection with a Jan. 2 heist, according to the criminal complaint and police. The robbery occurred around 10 p.m. in the parking lot of an outdoor shopping mall on the 2000 block of Clove Road, near Darian Street and Mosel Avenue.
The criminal complaint alleges that the defendant and two unapprehended individuals repeatedly punched the victim in the face and head. One of the individuals who remains at large put what appeared to be a gun against the victim’s head.
The second unapprehended individual ripped a gold chain off of the victim’s neck before fleeing, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim suffered lacerations, bleeding, swelling and pain to his head, neck and left hand. Police previously said that the victim was transported in stable condition to Northwell Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze.
The necklace was valued at over $5,000. The defendant told police that one of his accomplices handed him $1,200 for the chain, according to the criminal complaint.
Police allege that Pereyra blamed his accomplices for the gunpoint robbery.
“I was just helping out my friends,” the criminal complaint quoted Pereyra as saying to police. “I was just trying to follow my friends. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Pereyra has been charged with robbery, assault, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal possession of a weapon, petit larceny, menacing and harassment, according to the criminal complaint.
The defendant has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is being held at Rikers Island in lieu of bail set at $300,000 bond/$100,000 cash. He is due back in state Criminal Court in St. George on April 22, according to public records.
An attorney for the defendant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bronx car thefts
Pereyra and three unapprehended individuals were traveling in a Honda Accord around 11 p.m. on Feb. 9, according to the criminal complaint. The group struck the back of a 2021 black BMW M550i on Sedgwick Avenue near W. Fordham Road, then exited the Honda and approached three victims who were in the BMW. The group pointed firearms at the victims and then drove off in the BMW.
The next day around 1:30 a.m., the group was traveling in a black BMW when they allegedly struck a 2020 red BMW X3 at Third Avenue and E. 189th Street. The criminal complaint alleges that the group pointed firearms at the driver of the BMW X3 and drove off in that victim’s car.
Pereyra has pleaded not guilty to charges including robbery, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal possession of a weapon, petit larceny and unauthorized use of a vehicle in connection with the Bronx heists.
Bail has been set at $150,000 bond/$50,000 cash, and he is due back in state Criminal Court in the Bronx on May 13, according to public records.