At first, a Philadelphia man said he didn’t give his friends a starter pistol they used to rob a teen as he got off the school bus last month, Bristol Township police said.
“They stole it from me and they returned it to me,” Brian Pickup, 22, reportedly told a detective who showed up at his Worth Street house last month.
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| Brian Pickup |
But after his sister told police that Pickup knew that the friends planned to use the gun in a robbery, he changed his story and admitted lending them the gun, according to court records.
The sister said that, a few days before the robbery, Nicholas Ricciardi, 21, and Dennis Rose III, 19, both of Bristol Township, told Pickup that they were planning on “robbing a kid of his weed and money,” police said. She said her brother told the men to take his starter pistol to “scare the (expletive) out of the kid,” court records show.
Pickup now faces robbery, conspiracy and related charges in connection with the Feb. 20 robbery of a Bristol Township teen during which the starter pistol was used, police said.
Police said the robbery was connected to the so-called “Black Flag Family,” a group of young men whom Bristol Township police say has caused “a lot of chaos” in the town. Five members and a 17-year-old Newtown Township girl were arrested earlier this month for robbing the teen of money and marijuana, police said.
The teen told police that the men were waiting for him in two cars when he got off the bus at Aspen Lane. Three men, including Rose and Ricciardi, threatened to beat him up, according to police. The teen told the men he didn’t want trouble and kept walking, police said.
The men followed him until Ricciardi told the teen to “run his pockets,” which is street slang for “empty your pockets, this is a robbery,” according to court records. As the teen ran away, he said Rose threatened to shoot him with what he thought was a semi-automatic handgun if he didn’t stop, police said. It was the starter pistol, police added.
The teen heard a gunshot and ducked, police said. All the men then scattered, and got into several cars, police said.
The 17-year-old, who is being charged as an adult, is Caroline Kolb, Ricciardi’s girlfriend, police said. She allegedly drove Ricciardi and Rose to Philadelphia to return the gun.
After Ricciardi was arrested, he admitted to the robbery and Rose admitted chasing the victim and firing the starter pistol, “which caused panic to everyone around the area,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Both men also told police they got the starter pistol from Pickup, whom they said knew they were using it in a robbery, the affidavit said.
Pickup was arrested and arraigned Monday before Newtown District Judge Donald Nasshorn, who sent him to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $100,000 bail.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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