INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD arrested a 21-year-old man for his alleged role in a series of armed robberies that police said were set up through Facebook Marketplace transactions on the north side of Indianapolis.
On March 14, police responded to a report of a robbery in the 5200 block of Luzzane Lane, near 52nd Street and North Keystone Avenue.
According to court documents, a man said he and his wife brought $2,000 with them after seeing a car for sale on Facebook, but were met by two men, one of whom showed a gun and demanded all their money.
Detectives spoke with the victim, who identified 21-year-old Trelandice Moore as the suspect with the gun involved in the robbery.
Two days later, on Thursday, March 16, robbery detectives, with the help of North District officers and the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force, located Moore in the 4900 block of Lemans Drive, near East 49th Street and North College Avenue, and took him into custody without incident after following him to the parking lot of the Glendale Target store on Keystone Avenue.
Police connected Moore to several other robberies where prospective car buyers responded to Facebook Marketplace advertisements and arrived with cash to look at the cars, only to be met by Moore and other men who robbed them at gunpoint.
On Sept. 5 in the 2700 block of Timberly Drive, near 65th Street and North Keystone Avenue, Moore and an accomplice attempted to rob a couple at gunpoint after they arrived to look at a car advertised for sale. A police report says the couple was able to drive away.
On Dec. 30 in the 2700 block of Timberly Drive, near 65th Street and North Keystone Avenue, a man told police he responded to a Facebook ad for a car and was met by Moore and an accomplice, who robbed him at gunpoint of $1,000 cash. The victim also said he was hit in the head with the butt of a handgun by one of the men who robbed him.
On March 6 in the 5100 block of Lemans Drive, near 52nd Street and College Avenue, a man said he surrendered $1,600 in cash to Moore and two other men after they threatened him at gunpoint.
Another man who brought his wife and daughter to buy a car was robbed the next day, March 7, in the 6700 block of Gateshead Lane, near 65th Street and North Keystone Avenue. In that incident, Moore and an accomplice pointed guns at the man, his wife and their 4-year-old daughter and left with $2,000 in cash.
The Marion County Prosecutor's Office will determine the final charges.
Anyone with additional information on the incidents is asked to call the IMPD Homicide/Robbery Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.