It was late the night after Christmas when someone knocked on the door at apartment 1C.
Michael Farn opened the door and found two young women in tears. They said they needed to call for help. Farn reached for his cell phone, turned around to offer it and was pistol-whipped.
After that blow, four young men allegedly charged into Farn?s Woodlawn apartment and ransacked the place, taking cash, a Cingular cell phone, a laptop computer and a silver Tiffany money clip, according to court documents. One of them pleaded guilty Wednesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court to two counts of armed robbery.
Karl Bridgewater, 17, was charged as an adult and is scheduled to return to court in October for sentencing. Deputy State?s Attorney Stephen Bailey said he plans to ask the judge for a 20-year prison sentence. A defense attorney said he will argue for lesstime.
“He accepted responsibility with me from day one, and really has offered no silly excuses,” said Marshall Henslee, Bridgewater?s attorney.
Five other suspects also have been charged: A male is being tried as a juvenile, one 18-year-old woman pleaded guilty to armed robbery in June and another 18-year-old woman still faces armed robbery charges. A pair of brothers are charged with the robbery at Farn?s apartment and another one the next day, in which a woman was allegedly raped.
The six defendants were apparently friends, attorneys said, but it isn?t clear why they targeted Farn?s apartment. Farn?s uncle and father were beaten, according to court documents, and Farn?s teenage sister cowered under a desk.
Detectives nabbed Bridgewater and the juvenile suspect two days after the robbery as the officers were preparing a search warrant at an apartment in the 6700 block of Townbrook Drive, about a mile from Farn?s home, according to court documents. They had traced the signal of Farn?s stolen cell phone to that address. Detectives called the phone when Bridgewater and the juvenile were in front of them, the documents say, and the phone rang in Bridgewater?s pocket.
