A New York City teenager grabbed money from a shopper shortly after she left Whole Foods Market late Monday afternoon, but they were caught by police soon afterward, Darien police said.
Darien police gave this account of the incident, including accusations not proven in court:
The woman told police that she was approached by the men, and one asked if she could donate money to his “March Madness pool.” When she pulled out her wallet and exposed the cash in it, one of the men aggressively grabbed the cash from her hands and ran toward the Post Road.
Police were called at about 4:30 p.m. and the woman gave a description of at least one of the men to the dispatcher. When police arrived at the scene, the woman gave a better description of what the two men looked like. Police found the two in the nearby Darien Sports Shop parking lot.
The men told police that they were coming from a grocery store, and they said they hadn’t robbed anybody. The victim was taken to the spot where the men were being detained, and she immediately identified both of them.
On one of the men, Jayden Lopez of Selwyn Avenue in the Bronx, police found a medium-sized fixed blade sheath knife in his front jacket pocket. The other suspect was identified as Corey Hampton of Jackson Avenue in Queens.
Both Lopez and Hampton were charged with third-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny. Lopez, who had the knife on him, was also charged with carrying a dangerous weapon.
Each of the men was held on a $30,000 bond and given an appointment to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on April 5. If the men hadn’t paid the bond by early this morning, Tuesday, they would have appeared today in court.
According to the Connecticut Judicial Branch website, Corey Hampton (or someone with the same name and birth year) was arrested twice in recent months by police. he first time, on Nov. 5, Manchester police charged him with interfering with a police officer. He paid 7% of his $5,000 bond ($350) in that case.
On Feb. 15, he was arrested by East Hartford police on charges of second-degree criminal trespassing and second-degree breach of peace. In this case his bail was $25,000, and he paid 7% of that ($1,750). That and Hampton’s other case are in state court in Manchester.
Jayden Lopez was arrested the same day by the same police department and given the same two charges as Hampton. He was released from custody after his $20,000 bond ($5,000 lower than Hampton’s bond) was posted.
Lopez was also charged in another case, on June 7, 2023, has been sealed by the court, so no further information is available other than that his case is in a state court in Meriden. At the time of that arrest, Lopez would have been a 17-year-old minor.