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By JAIME JORDAN; Times Leader Correspondent
Tuesday, June 23, 1998 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE- It was deja vu for area taxi drivers Monday, with a report of
another armed cab robbery, the fifth this year.
A 56-year-old male driver for Cook’s Posten Taxi Inc. was held up at
gunpoint and robbed of $30 while responding to a call for a ride at about 5
a.m., police said.
Previously, Posten taxi officials had said they would begin calling fares
back to confirm ride requests as a means of protecting their drivers. Cab
officials could not be reached Monday to determine if the system is in place,
but according to police accounts, it might not have helped.
The taxi driver, Stan Thomas, was on Monroe Street when he asked a teenage
male standing nearby if he had ordered a cab, police said.
The male, about 17, approached the taxi, pulled a gun from under his
jersey, pointed it at Thomas through an open window and demanded his money,
police said.
A Feb. 11 robbery of a Pittston Area Taxi cab driver was the first of a
string of similar crimes this year. The driver reportedly was robbed of $40
and a calculator.
The next day, a Posten cab driver reported being robbed on East Northampton
Street about 2:40 a.m. The driver lost $100 of the company’s money and $30 of
his own.
At 4 a.m. on Feb. 13, another Posten cab driver was robbed at knifepoint.
Police said $30 was taken from the driver’s coat.
The incidents spurred an announcement by both companies that they would not
pick up people trying to hail a cab late at night.
More recently, on May 22, a cab driver and passenger were robbed of $150,
police said.