Some friend.

Homebound senior is robbed by masked duo
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A bedridden Downtown Jersey City man was robbed at knifepoint by two men who cut his phone line after invading his apartment Saturday night, Police Director Sam Jefferson said.

The 64-year-old man told police that on Friday he gave a friend $5 and asked him to pick up some groceries for him. But before leaving the apartment, the friend picked up the victim's keys and pretended to open a locked cabinet, reports said.

After the friend left, the victim made his way to the door and locked it, reports said. But the next day he noticed his house key was missing from the key chain, according to reports. That night, the victim was awakened by the sound of two men in ski masks coming through his apartment door, reports said.

One of the men walked to the bed and put a knife to the victim's throat before taking $150 from his pocket, reports said. Before the pair fled the apartment the second man cut the phone line and took the victim's wallet, which was inside a backpack on a chair in the apartment.

With the phone line cut, the bedridden man was unable to get help or call police until the next day when he was visited by other friends, reports said.

The victim told police the man he gave grocery money to had never returned, even though he lives in the same building, reports said. The victim gave police the man's name and investigators are looking for him, police said.