Police on St. Thomas are several attempted robberies and one robbery involving a gypsy cab driver who robbed a visiting couple.
According to the V.I. Police Department, at about 10 p.m. Monday police were dispatched to the Bluebeard’s Castle hotel on St. Thomas. The male victim told police that he and his wife hired a gypsy cab to take them to another location. Instead of taking the couple to their destination, the driver and passenger drove the couple to a dark street and demanded money from them.
The suspects were armed with a knife and a machete, the victims said. The suspects took $100 from the couple and the victims got out of the car. They flagged down another vehicle and went back to Bluebeard’s, where they contacted police.
The victims did not have a clear description of the suspects but said the vehicle there were driven in was a small, black, four-door foreign vehicle.
Police are also investigating an attempted robbery that occurred Tuesday. A woman said she was driving on Frenchman’s Bay Road traveling west behind a white pickup truck with a passenger in the truck bed.
She said the truck stopped and the man in the truck bed got out and threatened her with a machete. The victim said the suspect hit her car with the machete while demanding that she get out of her car. The victim escaped the situation by driving past the truck, hitting it on the right side and possibly also striking the suspect.
Another couple reported they almost got robbed by a man wielding a machete, police said. This incident occurred at about 11 p.m. Monday.
The man and wife told police they were at the Morning Star Beach parking lot when an unknown person carrying a machete with a black handle and sawed blade approached the woman and demanded their cell phones and money. The couple managed to run from the area to safety.
In another attempted robbery on St. Thomas, a woman was stabbed, police said. This incident happened about 11 p.m. Monday. The woman said she and a friend were walking past the Havensight bus shanty and saw a man in a grey, hooded jacket sitting there. As they passed the man said, “Give me your cell phone.”
The victim refused and was stabbed in the palm of her left hand with a knife. Both women ran to safety. Police said the injured victim refused medical treatment.
Each of these cases is being followed up by detectives from the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Anyone with any information about the case can call the detectives at 1-340-714-9834 or 1-340-715-5522, the 911 emergency call center, or the anonymous tip service, Crime Stoppers USVI, at 1-800-222-8477.