SALISBURY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — It was an Instagram sale gone wrong.
Police said it happened Monday on the 1600 block of Jeter Avenue in Salisbury Township.
According to investigators, a 16-year-old boy and his mom showed up here to make the sale. That is when the police said a group of juveniles assaulted the boy and robbed his mother.
“When they got there, it went south quick,” said Sergeant Losagio.
This follows an armed Facebook Marketplace robbery in Bethlehem on May 30th. Salisbury Police Sergeant Bryan Losagio said the location when meeting for these sales is key.
“You want to meet somebody in a public area such as a shopping center or mall– somewhere there’s going to be a lot of people around that generally, typically will help deter crime,” said Sergeant Losagio.
He said you also do not want to meet people late at night. Sergeant Losagio tells us bringing a friend along can help and not to buy anything too expensive, so you are not carrying a lot of cash.
“The other thing to take into consideration is if you have nice jewelry. Don’t flaunt the jewelry, don’t bring the diamond earrings or diamond necklaces or rings. That just gives someone an idea to do something bad,” said Sergeant Losagio.
Salisbury Township police will be creating a safe exchange spot that’s monitored at its department to help deter this crime. Sergeant Losagio said if the sale sounds too good to be true, it likely is and to go by your gut feeling.
“A lot of it’s commonsense. Sometimes, things just happen when you don’t expect it, so you really got to think about what you’re doing and where you’re going to meet the person and what time,” said Sergeant Losagio.