Winnipeg police arrest 19-year-old in series of online ad-related robberies

Winnipeg policehave charged a young man they say is responsible for robbing people who responded to online buy-and-sell ads.

Police allege the man, 19, would place or respond to an ad online and get the seller to meet him at an address in the 500 block of Atlantic Avenue,Const. Rob Carver said Saturday.

Once there, the man would steal the victim's money or goods and then run away, according to police.

The 19-year-old faces two charges of robbery with a firearm and one charge of robbery with a weapon.

The first robbery police believe he is responsible for happened Sept. 7. The victim, 16, was trying to sell gaming equipment. A man responded to the ad, said Carver, and the teen met him on Atlantic Avenue. Once the pair met up, the man showed the teen the handle of a gun and stole the equipment. The victim wasn't hurt.

On Nov. 23, a man called police to say he had been trying to sell his cellphone online and met up another man just after 4 p.m., again in the 500 block of Atlantic Avenue. The would-be buyer got into the victim's car, brandished a machete-style knife, and stole the phone and the man's personal effects. The victim handed over the goods and managed to escape in his car unharmed.

The following night, a man and woman went to the same block of Atlantic Avenue to buy a TV. When they showed up, aman pointed a gun at the pair and demanded the money they had brought to buy the TV, along with their personal property. He then ran into a house on the street.

Carver said the pair were able to tell police which house the alleged thief ran into.

Police arrested the 19-year-old there Friday and he remains in custody.

The suspect never used his real address when asking people to meet up, Carver added.

"He'd give them an address and when they pulled up, he was outside the house. He was like, 'Hey, are you the guys who want to buy whatever, or sell? And then he would [rob them]," Carver said.

When meeting up for online transactions, Carver said the safest approach is to do soin a public place and to not go alone.