2 teens charged with beating, robbing Oak Park man

Denzel A. Gibbs, Devante D. Deans, both 17, charged with unarmed robbery

Devante D. Deans and Denzel A. Gibbs.

OAK PARK, Mich. – Two teens are charged with beating and robbing an Oak Park man as he walked down a street near his house.

Denzel A. Gibbs and Devante D. Deans were each arraigned Monday on a charge of unarmed robbery, both suspects are 17 and live in Oak Park.

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Police say the victim was walking near Whitmore and Pearson streets, several blocks south of Nine Mile, just before midnight Sunday when he was attacked.

The two suspects said something to the man and he kept on walking, police said.

"The victim crossed the street and then the suspects crossed the street," said Oak Park Public Safety Lt. Samantha Kretzschmar. "One of the suspects asked to use the victim's cellphone and then they assaulted him."

Police say the suspects knocked the victim to the ground and repeatedly punching and kicking him. The teens took the man's wallet with $5 in it, his cellphone and the keys to his house, police said.

"It took the victim a minute to get up and he started walking to his house," Kretzschmar said. "He then saw the suspects coming back toward him and took off running to a gas station where he called police." The man gave a description of the attackers and police said they found the suspects in the area within 20 minutes.

The victim identified the teens and they were arrested. Unarmed robbery is punishable by up to 15 years in prison under Michigan law.

The suspects are scheduled for a pre-exam conference on March 12. Gibbs is free after posting a 10 percent bond and Deans was jailed on $75,000 bond.