Advertisement

Homeless men charged with robbing dying

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Two homeless men have been charged with robbing a dying man in the emergency room of a Philadelphia hospital.

Martin Smith, 41, was arrested Thursday after police got a tip about his whereabouts, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The other suspect, Richard Alten, 44, was arrested at the Aria Health Frankford Campus emergency room last Saturday, and a third man is being sought.

Advertisement

Joaquin Rivera, 63, went to the emergency room complaining of pain in his arm and abdomen. By the time workers got to him, he was dead.

Investigators said Smith and Alten were recorded by security cameras as they removed Rivera's watch.

The death and robbery are being investigated by the state Health Department and by the hospital and police.

Rivera, a bilingual counselor at a Philadelphia high school and a musician well-known in the city's Hispanic community, is to be buried Saturday. Some of his friends honored him Friday with a concert at Centro Musical, a store Rivera visited the day he died.

Rivera was the founder of Los Pleneros del Batey, a band specializing in the Puerto Rican music known as bomba y plena.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines