Police: Arizona woman led sons on crime spree

From AP

PHOENIX – Cynthia Mary Roberson is an unemployed mother who police say led her 12- and 14-year-old sons and their friends to commit at least 20 armed robberies and assaults, including the beating of a teenage boy who had nothing more than an orange lollipop.

Her motivation was purely financial — police said she needed money to pay rent and the loan on her gold Chevrolet. In every case, the mother drove the getaway car and once coached a kid during a robbery because he was having trouble stealing a cell phone from a victim, police said.

The case has outraged authorities and the public and drawn comparisons to “Ma Barker,” the infamous mother who led her four young sons on a robbery spree in the early 1900s.

At the time of her arrest in late May, the 51-year-old Roberson lived in what police described as a filthy Phoenix apartment with her two sons, ages 12 and 14, and five other young boys and men between 14 and 20 years old.

Phoenix police say Roberson had recently lost her job and persuaded her sons and the others living with her to commit robberies to help pay for rent and her car loan.

Phoenix police Sgt. Phil Roberts described Roberson as the ringleader, driving the youngsters to robberies in parks and along streets in Phoenix.

“I think she absolutely had a lot of influence,” Roberts said. “She’s driving them out, telling them how to do it — basically saying, ‘Let’s go out and let’s commit a robbery tonight,’ and then instructing some of the suspects on how to do the robbery and how the robbery should go down.”

‘Taking human life’
Roberson remains in jail and declined to speak with The Associated Press. Her attorney, Raymond Kimble, said he had just been assigned to her case and was not yet able to comment.

Roberson pleaded not guilty to one count each of armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and attempted aggravated robbery. She is scheduled for an initial pretrial conference on July 30. If convicted, she faces between seven and 39 years in prison. Her kids and their friends were also arrested.

Phoenix police believe Roberson and the youngsters committed at least 20 robberies involving assaults on victims between the age of 13 and 20. One 13-year-old was beaten and forced to empty his pockets — which contained only a lollipop. One victim suffered a concussion.

Roberts said the group’s downfall came after one of the boys spotted someone he had robbed the day before at a grocery store, went up to him and said: “I remember you — you’re the guy I punched in the face yesterday.”

On May 29, Phoenix detectives were about to serve a search warrant at Roberson’s apartment when she and some of the boys got in the SUV and left.

Police pulled the group over and arrested them; Roberts said detectives believe the group was on the way to commit a robbery.

Police believe that if Roberson and the others hadn’t been caught when they were, their crimes could eventually have become much more serious.

“What I see is when people start off doing small crimes, and they become successful at those crimes — especially when they’re violent crimes — the violence seems to escalate,” Roberts said.