Three men fled after allegedly robbing and beating another man Monday night on a Lancaster street, but not all of them got away.

Moments after the 9:49 p.m. robbery in the 400 block of North Market Street, city police had a 22-year-old Coatesville man in custody.

Officer Justin Miller was responding to another robbery call when he saw three men walking toward a 34-year-old West James Street man, who had his back to them.

The three men started striking the James Street man around the head and face with their fists and grabbed his backpack. They fled, but Miller, who had witnessed the attack, was able to stop and detain one of the suspects in a parking lot off North Market Street.

The police officer also found the backpack with its contents, which had a $90 value.

Miller apprehended Manuel Casimir Taylor, 22, of 928 George St., Coatesville. Detective Michael Winters charged Taylor with robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery.

Taylor was to be arraigned this morning at police headquarters.

Anyone with further information about the incident is asked to contact Lancaster police at 735-3300.

Another robbery reportedly happened Sunday night on West King Street near Penn Square.

A 35-year-old man told police that a woman asked him for permission to use his cell phone at about 9 p.m. in the first block of West King Street. He let her do so, but she left with the $100 phone, police were told.

The man said he followed the woman and asked for the phone back, but she pulled a knife on him.

The woman was black, in her late 20s, about 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds, and was wearing a white shirt and gold/black pants, police were told.

In other police incidents:

• Manheim Township arrested two men for felony retail-theft following an incident late Monday morning at Sally's Beauty Supply, 1304 Lititz Pike.

Employees saw two men, later identified as Frank Rodriguez, 40, of 9 W. James St., and Carlos R. Barreto, 35, no known address, leave the store at about 11:15 a.m. with their jackets bulging, Sgt. Thomas E. Rudzinski said.

An employee got a description of their vehicle. Officer David Bair stopped the vehicle on Ross Street and found five flat irons belonging to Sally's, Rudzinski said. The total value of the irons was $381.

Both men were charged with retail theft and committed to Lancaster County Prison in default of $25,000 cash bail. Barreto was additionally charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and giving a false name to authorities, police said.

• A vehicle break-in happened sometime between 3 and 10 p.m. Sunday in the first block of South Mulberry Street, Lancaster police learned.

A radio/CD/ stereo system, valued at $500, was stolen from a 23-year-old woman's 1992 station wagon. The thief or thieves also did about $175 damage when they smashed a window and tore apart the dashboard, police said.

• One vehicle was stolen and another was damaged Friday night at Abacus Sports Installations, 836 Flory Mill Road, Manheim Township police said.

The stolen vehicle was an $8,000 green 1994 Ford F-250 pickup truck with an extended cab. A cinder block was thrown through a window of another Ford F-250, with damage estimated at $400.

• The Manor Animal Hospital, 210 Stonemill Road, was broken into on Thanksgiving Day, Manor Township police said.

Unknown suspects entered the business between noon and about 5 p.m. and took $30 from the office area, Officer Charles Snyder III reported.

• Kenneth Falcon, of Columbia, told West Hempfield Township police a compound bow and arrows were recently stolen from his unlocked van in the 2100 block of Cloverton Drive, Columbia, The loss exceeded $700.

• East Cocalico Township police are investigating two thefts of ornaments from homes.

About $75 worth of Christmas ornaments were stolen or damaged Wednesday night at a home in the 100 block of West Main Street in Adamstown. That same night, an ornamental wagon wheel, valued at $75, was stolen from a home in the first block of Pelham Road, Reinholds, police said.

• East Cocalico Township police also are investigating break-ins of garages behind homes in the 500 block of Main Street and 500 block of Walnut Street in Denver. The garages were entered Saturday night, police reported.


Staff writer John M. Hoober III can be reached at jhoober@LNPnews.com or 481-6027.