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Kids Being Questioned After Mugging Spree in Central Park, Sources Say

By  Murray Weiss Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | April 21, 2014 10:19am | Updated on April 21, 2014 10:47am

 The teens stole an iPad and iPhone while robbing people in Central Park Monday, police said.
The teens stole an iPad and iPhone while robbing people in Central Park Monday, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

CENTRAL PARK — A group of young boys, who sources said were between 12 and 14, was being questioned for a Central Park mugging spree in which they are suspected of taking an iPod and iPhone from two women and slugging a man who refused to hand over his cash Monday morning, police said.

UPDATE: THE FIVE KIDS WERE ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF ASSAULT AND ROBBERY, POLICE SAID.

The boys, one of whom was wielding a stick, first tried to mug a 31-year-old man at Fifth Avenue and East 95th Street just outside the park's entrance about 5:15 a.m., sources said. They demanded the man's property, and when he refused, one of the boys punched him in the face, police said. The suspects ran into the park using the 96th Street entrance, police said.

The man met up with police at Fifth Avenue and 96th Street, after someone made a 911 call, according to the NYPD.

The group then approached two women near the Central Park reservoir at 96th Street at 5:30 p.m., police said. The boys demanded their property, and the a 48-year-old handed over her iPhone and the 46-year-old handed over an iPod and the suspects fled.

Police caught at least one of the youths near 96th Street and Fifth Avenue, a police spokesman said. No weapons were recovered, sources said.

A short while later, the remaining two boys surrendered to the 23rd Precinct stationhouse, near 102nd and Third Avenue, and were being questioned about the attacks, police said.

The suspects were being questioned and were expected to be charged with robbery and assault, police sources said.

Two of the victims left the Central Park precinct stationhouse Monday afternoon, still dressed in jogging gear, and declined to discuss the attack, other than to say: “We already had enough trauma this morning. We’ve already been through enough.”