It’s yuppie-hunting season on 125th Street in Harlem.
Teen wolf packs have been systematically preying on people in the gentrifying neighborhood, police sources said yesterday, as four young fiends were arraigned on second-degree murder charges for a street robbery gone awry.
The teens, charged as adults, face a maximum of nine years to life behind bars for acting with depraved indifference to human life by causing the death of New York University student Broderick John Hehman, 20.
But they are just the first highprofile arrests from a new crime pattern that’s shaken the on-the-rise neighborhood.
Sources said the new variety of robbers are 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds who linger in wait at the end of the school day or on weekends looking for targets. They agree on a victim – then move together to surround and attack.
The kids target well-dressed students, tourists or commuting office workers, preferring those who are alone and talking on cellphones as they climb out of the Metro-North and subway stations at Lexington Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard, sources said.
Getting the cellphone is the main goal – the kids see it as a way to upgrade from their old phones. Any wallets they lift are picked clean of cash, then tossed, sources said.
The sources said cops arrest groups of kids for these broad-daylight sidewalk muggings a couple times a month.
“The larger kids will grab or punch you, maybe throw you to the ground,” said one cop from the area. “Then the little ones will go through your pockets.”
Until now, the fights were not deadly. But that changed April 1, when just this kind of pack, all 13- and 15-year-old Harlem natives, allegedly pounced on Hehman, 20, who was visiting a friend in the neighborhood.
Hehman died six days later of massive head injuries after running terrified into traffic allegedly to escape his young pursuers.
The kindhearted urban-studies student’s last act before the robbery was to hand a dollar to a begging man in a wheelchair near the Metro-North station.
His father, Manhattan investment banker Thomas Hehman, lives on the Upper East Side.
“These kids are just like what we’re always getting out there,” said a cop who patrols the historic street. “They catch you walking off the train and talking on your cell.”
“They’re very easy to catch. They see you [cops] coming, and they panic, and they give themselves away.
“The trouble is, they go to Family Court, and they get released home to Mommy. They never do any time.” Added the cop, “We keep telling people, when you walk out of the station, stay off the cellphone. Be alert. Don’t act like you’re in Midtown. ‘Cause you’re not in Midtown. You’re in Harlem.”
Robberies in the 25th Precinct – which includes 125th Street in East Harlem – are up 3.3 percent so far this year, according to NYPD statistics through April 2.
The figures show that there were 61 robberies in the precinct for the first three months of the year, compared to 59 ripoffs for the same period in 2005.
The number of robberies in the 25th Precinct during the period is about the same as in 2001 – although robberies plunged by 67.3 percent between 1993 and 2001, the statistics show.
Yesterday, criminal complaints were released that detail Hehman’s final moments, which cops say were captured by a nearby surveillance camera: The accused ringleader, Andre “Chris” Johnson, 15, spotted Hehman walking alone and talking on his cell as he left the Metro-North station at Lexington Avenue, and pointed him out to the others.
He wasn’t their first target. Some of the kids admitted they were first going to rob a Hispanic man – but held off when a patrol car passed.
Using a prearranged hunting plan, three of the teens then closed in on Hehman from behind; the other two approached from the front.
Cops say Johnson has admitted punching the student in the side of his head, and Hassan Mayfield, 15, admitted “trying” to grab him.
But Hehman wriggled free and ran into 125th Street traffic. A witness told cops at least one westbound car swerved to avoid Hehman – but an eastbound Mercedes wound up striking him.
Denzell Fell and Humberto Guzman, both 13, have also admitted joining in the robbery. None of the teens admits chasing Hehman into traffic. All deny wanting to seriously injure him. And all tried to downplay their role in the robbery, particularly Guzman.
The two 15-year-olds “always get the money,” Guzman griped, according to Assistant District Attorney Joel Seideman.
“Chris and Hassan never give us any of the stuff they take,” the prosecutor said Guzman complained to cops.
The four teens – who were identified with help from the surveillance video – were all arraigned by yesterday morning
and are being held without bail.
The four all told investigators that a fifth, unapprehended teen also participated; he was not in custody as of last night.
Initial reports that one of the kids had shouted, “Get the white boy!” led to rumors that investigators might charge the fatal mugging as a bias crime, which carries a higher penalty.
But Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that bias was not charged because robbery, not race, is believed to be the primary motive in the attack.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte