Police arrested a 19-year-old man after four men were robbed in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast D.C. – robberies that were set up on Facebook Marketplace.
Between Nov. 8 and Dec. 3, Elijah Porter of Northeast D.C. used Facebook Marketplace to arrange meetings to buy items from the victims, police said. When he met the victims in the area of Orren and Oates streets, Porter pulled a handgun and robbed them, taking money, laptops and iPads.
“The victim drives down there to make this exchange down on Orren Street, and of course, he’s then robbed by a suspect,” Metropolitan Police Department Cmdr. Sylvan Altieri said.
Detectives tracked down Porter, who lives close to where the robberies occurred.
“They subpoenaed, of course, Facebook Marketplace for the records of this account everything was coming out of,” Altieri said. “While we were waiting on that, we had a fourth robbery in December, same location again. That occurred on a Thursday. We were able to get the warrant signed, and that Monday morning we were able to serve the warrant down on Orren Street, arrest the suspect.”
Police say more people use social media sites to buy and sell items during the holidays, which makes it easy to become a victim.
“We do tend to get, around this time of year, a little bit of an increase in platform robberies,” Altieri said.
Police are urging residents to be cautious when using social media sites to buy and sell items and go somewhere safe like an MPD safe exchange location when it’s time to meet face to face. Safe exchange zones can be found at every district station and the Special Operations Division’s Harbor Patrol.
“You can go to any police district seven days a week,” Altieri said. “We don’t close; we’re like IHOP, 24/7, right? Open all the time. And you can agree to make these exchanges there. We really try to encourage people to do it.”
Police charged Porter with four counts of robbery and one count of threat to kidnap or injure a person.
