Town of Clay, New York – The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office reports that sheriff’s deputies have charged a Syracuse man in connection with an armed robbery that occurred last night in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the Town of Clay.
Last night at approximately 11:30 P.M. deputies responded to the parking lot of an apartment complex off Galloway Drive for a robbery that just occurred. The victim, a 25-year-old male, reported that while unloading groceries from his vehicle, he was approached by a male wearing a ski mask who displayed a handgun and demanded all the contents from the victim’s pockets. After robbing the victim of his cell phone and other personal items, the male fled from the scene in a gray colored sedan. The victim was not injured during the robbery.
With the quick actions of the victim and deputies, along with the use of GPS technology and a phone app, the suspect was tracked by the victim’s phone to the area of Oswego Road near Pine Hollow Drive (3 miles north of the incident location). At that location, a deputy observed the gray sedan occupied by the suspect. A traffic stop was conducted and while taking the suspect into custody, the suspect was found to be in possession of a .22
caliber semi-automatic handgun. The victims belonging were also recovered from the vehicle.
The suspect was identified as Artel Clarke (34) of West Brighton Avenue, Syracuse. He was charged with robbery in the 1st degree, criminal use of a firearm in the 1st degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the 3rd degree. Clarke is currently being held in the Justice Center and is expected to be arraigned sometime this morning.
