The Magistrate's Court in Petah Tikva today (Thursday) extended by four days the detention of a 35-year-old resident of Netanya who allegedly impersonated a policeman and robbed an elderly man.
The investigation revealed that the suspect, Kobi Kriaf, was lurking near an ATM on Herzl Street in Netanya, and recognized that an 84-year-old man had withdrawn an amount of NIS 5,000.
He followed him, introduced himself as a policeman and robbed him of his money.
He fled the scene, but was later arrested thanks to the security cameras on the street.
The police are investigating whether he robbed other elderly people using the same method.
The Magistrate's Court in Petah Tikva, photo: Gideon Markowitz
Today, the police charged Kriaf, at the hearing to extend his detention at the Magistrate's Court in Petah Tikva, with the crime of robbing an adult.
The police representative said at the hearing: "Yesterday at 1:30 p.m., the complainant, 84 years old, withdrew an amount of NIS 5,000 from an ATM at Bank Hapoalim. On his way home, the suspect passed him and verbally identified himself as a police officer. He threatened the complainant that he would arrest him if he did not identify himself to him. The complainant took out his wallet to show the suspect an ID card. The suspect hit him on the hand and as a result of the blow the wallet fell. The suspect took the money out of the wallet and ran away. Security cameras were located that record the incident. On the security cameras we saw that he followed the victim."
Kriaf claimed at the hearing that he was not the person seen on the security cameras, but the judge, Shimon Stein, wrote in his decision: "The suspect introduced himself as a policeman and demanded that the elderly man identify himself to him, otherwise he would arrest him.
"The suspect was arrested shortly after the incident in view of security cameras that were in the area, when he was identified, among other things, in view of a special item of clothing that the suspect was wearing. After looking at the photographs and the rest of the material, I found that it ties the suspect to the commission of the crime."
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