FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for
Robbing and Slashing Subway Passenger
Defendant Slashed and Robbed Victim
Minutes After Attempting to Rob Another Passenger
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 26-year-old Brooklyn man was sentenced to seven years in prison for slashing a woman in the face before stealing her cellphone on a Manhattan-bound C train. The incident happened 25 minutes after the defendant attempted to rob another passenger.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “All New Yorkers depend on the subways to get to work, school, home and other places. They must be able to ride the trains safely without fear of being robbed or attacked. Today’s sentencing ensures that this defendant is held accountable for his actions and will not be able to harm anyone else in our community.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Christopher Lange, 26, of Flatlands, Brooklyn. He was sentenced yesterday by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Miller to seven years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision following his guilty plea to first-degree robbery earlier this month.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on April 12, 2017, at approximately 5:20 p.m., the defendant tried to grab a woman’s cellphone while on a C train at the Franklin Avenue subway station. As he got off the train, he told the victim, “You’re lucky I didn’t cut your little face.”
According to the investigation, the defendant approached another woman on a Manhattan-bound C train at Nostrand Avenue at approximately 5:45p.m. He slashed her face with a sharp object from her ear to her lip. Before fleeing the train, he grabbed the woman’s cellphone. Video surveillance at the train station shows the defendant getting off the train immediately after the slashing.
The defendant was apprehended in New Jersey on April 17, 2017. At the time of his arrest, he was still in possession of the victim’s phone. He was also carrying a razor blade.
According to the evidence, the defendant used the victim’s phone to call his family members. Based on those phone calls, police were able to determine the defendant’s last name. Witnesses at the scene of both incidents identified the defendant.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Chelsea Toder, of the District Attorney’s Trial Bureau Blue Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert Walsh, Bureau Chief.
#