Police confirmed that two brothers, 19-year old Kenyatta Lloyd and 17-year old Marquis Lloyd from the 5200 block of Webster Street, were arrested in connection with three recent robberies.
Police say Kenyatta was arrested on January 26 for his involvement in a gunpoint robbery on January 9 on the 4400 block of Osage Avenue. The victim, a 25-year old man, was approached by three males, one of whom pointed a handgun at the victim and demanded his belongings. The robbers took the victim’s phone, ID and $40. Marquis Lloyd was also charged in this incident.
Marquis is also charged with two other similar robberies. One was on January 8 on the 4600 block of Larchwood Street and involved a 31-year old male. The second was on January 18 on the 4700 Springfield Avenue when a 32-year old female was robbed at gunpoint.
Marquis Lloyd is charged with robbery, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses. Kenyatta Lloyd is charged with aggravated assault, robbery, theft, and weapons offenses.
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Kenyatta and Marquis. Pretty names. They’ll be popular in prison.
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Since when is it OK to post a juvenile suspect’s name in the press?
Shame on you…
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Stewie,
Names of juveniles involved in crimes are often published in the press. We take what the police gives us and decide – case by case – what to publish. You are right… usually the police do not release the names of juveniles. But in some circumstances – particularly when they expect them to be tried as adults – they do. In this case we decided it was appropriate to publish Marquis’s name. We could have published mug shots of both, which were supplied by the police, but we chose not to. We weighed this decision very carefully and in this case decided to publish the name.
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Three armed robberies in less than a month … I cannot have any sympathy for this sibling team crime wave. I live right in this neighborhood and think that being held-up at gunpoint is horrifying and alarming. Hope they “throw the book” at these criminals.
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:36 pm
Tim, you made me laugh aloud. Thanks!
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:37 pm
Tim, I think your comment is completely inappropriate.
Bringing a range of opinions to our community discussions is really important & productive, but we should be able to be respectful.
February 3rd, 2012 at 11:20 pm
If the younger brother were named Nkrumah or Nyerere, we would have even more scope to bemoan the gulf between their names and deeds.
February 4th, 2012 at 12:55 am
Mike,
I know you’re within legal rights to do so…but how does disclosing Marquis’s name benefit the article or prevent similar future robberies?
If society is lucky enough, he learns that crime does not pay and the juvenile justice system will render that lesson more effectively than shaming via West Philly Local.
Juvenile offenders like Marquis unfortunately don’t have the capacity/maturity to comprehend the errors of such transgressions. In situations like this, anonymity is the investment worth making in hopes that recidivism doesn’t take root.
February 4th, 2012 at 7:36 am
Says if Mike didn’t post Marquis’s name, how did it make any difference?
February 4th, 2012 at 8:06 am
Yes, Marquis is 17. He’s been allegedly mugging people at gunpoint. He’s been allegedly putting the lives of others at risk for personal gain.
You say he doesn’t have the capacity and maturity to comprehend the errors of such transgressions. In less then a year, he’ll be 18. Will he magically have that capacity and maturity bestowed upon him at the stroke of midnight? For all we know he turns 18 next week.
His arrest is a matter of public record, so calling this shaming is stretching it. They expect to charge him as an adult. This could be because he’ll be 18 before the court system is finished processing the charges.
The age of 17 is a gray area in many states where an adolescent is no longer a minor and yet not an adult.
February 4th, 2012 at 11:20 am
My recollection of Pennsylvania police procedure is that when a suspect is over 15 and commits a felony with a weapon, he is charged as an adult. I’m not sure Pa. law allows for much discretion in this matter for prosecutors. But, getting charged as an adult means that he is treated as any other adult offender. That means his name and the charges against him are public information.
That’s why, for example, police didn’t release names for many of the flash mobbers –because even though they were juvenile and committed a felony, there weren’t weapons involved in many cases.
That’s just my guess. Could be wrong.
I also think that news sites should err on the side of disclosure. Hiding information is the cops’ job. When a news site does it, it leads to claims of bias and misinformation.
February 5th, 2012 at 1:30 am
Wow, Tim. Wishing sexual assault on teenagers. Sure glad to have you as a neighbor.
February 5th, 2012 at 1:36 am
It is a despicable and cruel feature of the United States that we sentence 17, 16, 15 and even 14-year-olds to crimes as adults, in adult prisons. We are uniquely barbaric among the industralized world in this way. West Philly Local, by justifying releasing a juvenile’s name through the fact that he will be tried as an adult, you’re condoning this horrific practice.
February 5th, 2012 at 7:02 am
His name is a matter of public record. His arrest is not sealed. Any conviction or charges being dropped will not be sealed as a juvie record.
Blame the law, not the paper. News media should not hide that which is public.
My particular ire with news media is when they don’t identify the victim of sexual crimes, especially minors, as that is not a matter of public record, but identify their family members, the area where they live, etc etc. Unless the victim of a sexual crime goes public with their assault, their information is kept private. Look what papers did to the poor kid involved in the Penn State scandal. His identity was protected in all the released public records and yet the media went and placed enough identifying information in their reports for the kid to be harassed in their community.
February 5th, 2012 at 8:01 am
@ EL Within the environment that Marquis was raised is, I bet he never heard the word allegedly, transgression or bestowed. I use that as a proxy for the lack of guidance he may have had, and look to the judicial process to provide him a good compass heading…not shaming.
Also, where does it state that he will be tried as an adult?? I must have missed that…
Lastly, if you think laws today provide society safety and guidance as to whats appropriate, society is failing.
Example=>our laws today state that its ok to give an 18yo a gun and send him off to a foreign land to kill…YET we don’t think he has the innate ability to handle alcohol consumption until 3 years of killing are over and he’s 21.
February 5th, 2012 at 10:25 am
First off, I think this a good and healthy debate. Also, we don’t “condone” the adult incarceration of juveniles. (In fact, I spent about 3 hours last Friday talking to juvenile lifers from West Philly at Graterford for another project I’m working on. These are men convicted of murder as juveniles to life without parole. There is definitely injustice there). Allen is right – although the U.S. is not “uniquely barbaric” it is among very few countries in the world that do this.
I will clarify our position further. It is true that there is an unwritten rule among publications to not release the names of juveniles charged with crimes. However, it is not ironclad. Publications always reserve the right to do so depending on the circumstances. Those include the age, the nature of the crimes committed, past record etc.
Here are the circumstances in this case that led us to publish the name:
• Marquis, as I mentioned, is being held as an adult. His bail is $175,000.
• He is charged with violent felonies.
• He has been through many juvenile correctional facilities, including a boot camp. So this is not a single case of bad judgement.
• He is charged with multiple counts in all of these robberies. (His older brother has far fewer charges and his bail is much lower).
• He will be 18 in July.
Anyone who wants to see the charges and the court docket can find them under his name at the Philadelphia courts portal here: http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MC.aspx
Lastly, we felt the benefit to the community of knowing exactly who was charged with these crimes outweighed the need to protect him.
February 5th, 2012 at 10:51 am
Thanks for the clarification but in your prior post, your mention that he was being held as an adult was not clear.
“…usually the police do not release the names of juveniles. But in some circumstances – particularly when they expect them to be tried as adults – they do. In this case we decided it was appropriate to publish Marquis’s name.”
Nevertheless, based on the circumstances your clarified in your recent post, I can understand why you’d choose to publish.
Juvenile delinquency leads to more violent crimes and Marquis is one of many data points that exhibit not just a failure in judgement, but a failure of society to mitigate the momentum.
Again, how is shame going to alter his path and make West Philly and safer? And why are we so traumatized as individuals when somebody wants our IPod/IPhone but are indifferent to the cost of humanity in producing them or blaise to our local politicians who commit grand larceny in pseudo legal ways? Since shaming those two groups has had little impact…why should we expect it with Marquis?
The reality is that if we spent less money on ice skating rinks at City Hall, Parklets, Musuem Parking garages, etc. and more money in creating recreation areas/centers where these guys(“at risk youth”) would have more productive and social opportunities; guys like Marquis would have less time to plan and execute such stupidity.
February 5th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Stating the facts is not shaming him. He made a choice and that choice involved using lethal weapons on others for their property. His choice made being in our own neighborhood a risk.
One does not have to be a genius or raised on the Main Line to know gun = threat to life, use gun = make others give you what you want because they know that gun could kill them. You don’t pull a gun on someone unless you are ready and willing to shoot.
And in light of the new information, this young man had many many opportunities to turn his life around and he chose not to, based off the facts of the matter.
If you are truly concerned about the very real problem the youth in our city face, attack the real root of the problem: the lack of education and education funding cuts, absentee parents, and just having no place to go and nothing to do due to cuts. Going after a news publication for naming a repeat offender who is 18 in less than six months and who has taken to terrorizing our neighborhood with a weapon for property and money, is going after the fallout from the problem, not the root of it. Start pushing your legislators to funnel funds where they need to go, if they don’t, vote them out and vote in someone who will.
This city’s youth are facing a very real problem. They face a lot of adversity. There are many children starting out with an unfair shake and that’s not right. They deserve better. We owe them better.
That does not, however, completely remove culpability from them should they go down the path of repeat, violent crimes.
February 5th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Thank you Mike Lyons and West Philly Local for reporting on this and sharing whatever details are on the public record, I wish more wide-reaching media outlets followed your example. And thank you E.L. and others for addressing the real issues here and not being caught in being pointlessly politically correct.
I do hope that this arrest helps a little bit with the safety of our neighborhood though, it certainly shouldn’t be an excuse to get lax about personal and homes safety.
February 6th, 2012 at 9:41 am
One of the larger issues with failing to identify Marquis is the possibility of misinformation.
Imagine another 17 year-old in the community is arrested around the same time for something far more innocuous than armed robbery. But in this scenario, Marquis’ name isn’t published, only his age.
I can guarantee you that the other 17 year-old will become a suspect in the robberies among his neighbors.
Can’t help when the mind seeks to fill in the blanks, even with incomplete information.
February 6th, 2012 at 10:00 am
@ EL
Through the looking glass of your prejudice, you kinda fail to see the fact that you agree with me. Marquis should face the consequences of his actions in the court of law and that youth in this city are are at risk.
Fact: kids/juveniles don’t have much of a choice about the environment they are raised let alone a choice about being born into that environment.
If we choose not to invest in youth as a society, and not just rely on their parents & family; society will reap the risks of this omission during their adulthood-and this is costly. The safety incarceration temporarily brings isn’t cheap/productive(see recividism rates of juveniles and what brings them down)and ultimately a red herring for safety.
February 6th, 2012 at 10:18 am
I don’t fail to see that I agree with you. We are in total agreement that the system sets our youth up for failure. Please do not make assumptions. It’s not only rude, it hampers discussion.
The difference we’re having is that I don’t see naming him in a news publication, when his arrest and charges are a matter of public record, as “shaming” him. Going after a news publication for reporting facts, for reporting the truth, is fighting the wrong battle.
Yes, the system sets him and others up for failure. That needs fixing. That does not, however, remove personal responsibility. The system doesn’t put the guns in their hands. The individuals have to be handled on a case by case basis. You cannot excuse their crimes with “the system sucks, don’t shame them.” It should be “the system sucks, we need to look at his life, what opportunities he had, and try to educate our youth so another one doesn’t make the choices he made.”
Go after the parents. Go after our legislators and leaders. Going after news media for doing their job is the wrong fight.
February 6th, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Haha, these liberals are hilarious. Who cares if a bunch of violent criminals get abused by other violent criminals? Good riddance, enjoy prison.
Do an adult crime, do adult time. Get your name printed in the paper, get throw in prison, and get what all other little mini-thugs get in prison. It ain’t pretty.
February 7th, 2012 at 12:02 am
How does the “news media” help by publishing a kid’s name? Just because you can do something doesn’t make it right. That said, I’m glad that most of us agree that the system is rotten to the core and that is why this kid is in trouble in the first place. Obviously the penal system did him harm, not good, or all those punitive actions against him surely would have “cured” him. We need to be creating decent education, recreation, and for older teens, part-time jobs: hope and guidance. As long as we maintain this pin-headed punitiveness, we are going to continue spiraling downward, with more people in prison in this nation than in most any developing or authoritarian nation.
February 7th, 2012 at 12:09 am
If you really think that all the people being brutalized in prison have done violent crimes, I suggest you go read some statistics. The New Jim Crow is a good place to start, as is this article: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_gopnik
Violent crime has gone down by 40% over the last 30 years across the U.S., even as we are locking up three times as many people. And don’t try to argue that it’s a causal relationship — the drop in crime precedes the incarceration increase.
February 7th, 2012 at 8:22 am
A huge part of the problem is the private prison system. It’s not about rehabilitation, it’s about cramming the prisons full to line someone’s pockets. It’s disgusting.
February 8th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Personal responsibility is a wonderful concept when selectively applied, but where is the recourse for justice misapplied-whether it be in the court of public opinion or the court room itself?
The Philadelphia DA’s office and Philly PD are *notorious* for their errors-some honest, others dishonest.
If the press continues to just regurgitate what’s been given to them without filtering through analysis and discretion, what is the value add of the press?
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120208_How_videos_convinced_a_jury_that_Amin_Speakes__after_2_years_behind_bars__was_not_guilty_of_murder.html?viewAll=y
At risk youth are emotionally incapable of mature decisions before and after the age of 18. Raised in an environment devoid of proper guidance and trust, their need for trust/guidance and the emotional shelter that they provide is as difficult to find as a decent news source these days. On that doesn’t act as a syndicate of the Police/DAs office, but an arbiter of their message and contextualizing it for the public as independently as possible.
Absent of that effort, dumbing down the readership is should not be accepted as news.
February 8th, 2012 at 9:57 am
“We need to be creating decent education, recreation, and for older teens, part-time jobs: hope and guidance.”
I agree with that, although one thing that is often missing from “making the environment better” is that you need to also get the criminals out of there. One of the major pernicious aspects of this environment are the people who commit violent crimes. The #1 direct danger to low income young, black males is other low income young, black males.
I acknowledge the tragedy and unfairness of this and I don’t have a solution, but I think it is a very important aspect of the problem that is often overlooked.
February 8th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Is there another article about Kenyatta and Marquis on this website devoted to their education and upbringing? I think it’s weird that based on this article (I’m guessing because of the fact that they are african-american?) people are making comments like:
“Within the environment that Marquis was raised in, I bet he never heard the word allegedly, transgression or bestowed. I use that as a proxy for the lack of guidance he may have had”
“at risk youths”
“raised in an environment devoid of proper guidance and trust”
Sounds kind of racist to me.
February 8th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
This sucks. The kids arrested are from my block. Prior to moving into transitional housing they were homeless, along with their mom and a couple of very young siblings. I don’t imagine they were born criminals. I hope that they receive actual rehabilitation while in jail, and that the victims are able to recover.
February 8th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
By the way, the 5200 block of Webster Street, where these guys are from, is a block with many nice, caring families.
February 9th, 2012 at 8:50 am
@ Kris…those comments weren’t based on race, they were rooted in statistics. Perpetrators of such acts don’t come from situations that are supportive and provide guidance.
A timely article below from the Daily News…
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120209_The_young_and_the_reckless_are_wreaking_havoc_on_Philly_s_streets.html?viewAll=y
February 10th, 2012 at 9:58 am
Seriously? This 17 and a half year old is pointing guns at people for stuff and we are up in arms over using his name? I’m all for youth programs, rehabilitation for petty crimes and thefts, etc but I am not going to give s guy like that a hug and a cookie if they CHOOSE to brandish guns at people. A 17 year old, even in the worst neighborhood (which 52 and Webster isn’t) has to know that is a bad thing. If he doesn’t, he is mentally incompetent, not disadvantaged.
March 13th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
What kind of backwards society feel sorry for criminals and casts off victims like garbage? Throw these monsters in a cage where they belong. Who cares what race they are? They are filthy, violent animals. They get no pity from me.
March 13th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Yes, there’s nothing more important to us fat little piggy Americans than our property. Anyone who tries to take our property is a filthy, violent animal and should be caged.
March 13th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
I’m stumped, yippie. Are you saying armed robbery should be tolerated?
March 13th, 2012 at 10:01 pm
I think there shouldn’t be any private property, and then there would be no robberies, armed or otherwise.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:29 am
90% of crime is the result of the money hungry,climb to the top, i have more than you therefore im better than you,mentality of capitalism. poverty and crime are bi-products of this system we live in. there are other options. and im not talking about communism.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:10 am
It is the same captialism that brings you internet. The internet invented by Al Gore wasn’t as cool as it is now.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I would be sincerely interested in yippie and guy’s thoughts on how private property could be successfully abolished.