A Syracuse University student was robbed and pepper sprayed Saturday at 2:45 a.m. on the 100 block of Euclid Avenue, said Sgt. Tom Connellan of the Syracuse Police Department. Saturday’s incident marks the sixth on- or near-campus robbery in five weeks. At the intersection of Comstock and Euclid avenues, Christopher Pribilski, a sophomore in the School of Information Studies, was text-messaging on his cell phone when a woman came up and snatched his iPhone from him and began to walk away, Connellan said. Pribilski turned to go after the female and four males appeared. One of them sprayed Pribilski in the face with Mace and the group ran away with his phone. Pribilski ran down the street and notified a nearby Department of Public Safety officer of the incident, who then called SPD. DPS and SPD set up a perimeter in the area. Moments later, someone witnessed the five suspects board an East Campus bus and notified the officers. Before the bus was about to take off down Euclid Avenue, officers boarded the bus and arrested the suspects. Sabrina Washington, 20, of Syracuse and David Herndon, 17, of Syracuse, were arrested and charged with the robbery. Police confiscated the pepper spray canister and have the victim’s phone in evidence. Connellan said there is no reason to believe Saturday’s robbery is connected to the recent string of on- and near-campus robberies. ‘We have nothing that connects them to the other robberies at this time,’ Connellan said. The only other passenger on the bus at the time of the arrests was Anand Ramakrishnan, an SU graduate student in computer engineering. He witnessed the group of five board the bus and ask to go downtown, he said.

The driver offered to take the group to the intersection of University Avenue and East Genessee Street so they could walk or take a taxi downtown. The group took money out of their pockets to pay the driver, but the driver refused, as it was a free bus. As the bus began to drive away, Ramakrishnan said 10 to 12 DPS and SPD cars surrounded the bus. Three officers boarded and handcuffed the group, he said. As it stands, police have arrested two other men, Nathaniel Flagg, 17, and Glen Hicks, 19, with the Sept. 7 gunpoint robbery of a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student. Less than an hour after Flaggs and Hicks robbed the ESF student, an SU student was robbed as he walked behind Heroy Geology Laboratory. Two ESF students were robbed at gunpoint Sept. 9 by two men at the 100 block of Judson Street near Westcott Street. An SU graduate student was walking with his companion on Fellows Avenue in the Westcott Street area Sept. 28 when two men robbed the pair at gunpoint. Another gunpoint robbery of an ESF graduate student took place two days later on the 900 block of Lancaster Avenue. Police are continuing to investigate the previous robberies. Check back on dailyorange.com for additional updates. blbump@syr.edu