A Leonia New Jersey teen was robbed while walking through Englewood NJ and playing the popular new Pokemon Go game on his iPhone.

The Pokemon Go smartphone game has been all the rage among people in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in the US for the past week or so. Generally speaking, the game is playing by individuals who use GPS tracking on their phones to “capture” Pokemon characters by tracking them down in actual locations. The problem is that sometimes the kids playing the Pokemon Go game aren’t paying attention to their surroundings and can accidentally end up in dangerous areas. That is apparently what happened to the victim in this robbery case.

The teenager, a 16-year-old boy who resides in Leonia, NJ, wandered into Englewood NJ and encountered a man who allegedly mugged him. The suspect allegedly assaulted the victim and ordered him to empty his pockets and hand over cash.

As the robbery was allegedly being committed, an Englewood NJ police officer was on patrol and trying to locate a suspect accused of stealing a bicycle. The Englewood New Jersey cop searched for the bike thief and happened to stumble upon the robbery in progress.

The suspect, a 19-year-old male from Fort Lee NJ, has been charged with multiple crimes, including two counts of robbery and one count of resisting arrest. Additionally, the suspect was cited for reportedly refusing to be fingerprinted and photographed while being booked by police.

If the suspect is convicted on the most serious charges of robbery, he could be in store for significant criminal penalties. As set forth by N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1, a person who commits a theft and causes physical injury to the victim can be charged with a second degree felony. A conviction for second degree robbery could result in a sentence of 5-10 years in NJ State Prison.

After being arrested and processed, the Fort Lee suspect was remanded to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ. He was being held at the correctional facility on a $50K bail amount.

For more information about this case, access the NorthJersey.com article, “Leonia Teenager Playing Pokemon Go Mugged in Englewood.”