Friday, Dec. 07, 2012

Police seek five ‘preppy’ muggers in downtown Raleigh attack

Five men punched and kicked a man early Nov. 24

Defying typical physical descriptions of muggers, five well-dressed men, including one in a business suit, assaulted a downtown Raleigh restaurant employee last month.

Police hope that video surveillance footage of the men made public this week will lead to arrests.

Joshua Daniel Mosley, 30, of Raleigh was taken by ambulance to WakeMed after the early-morning attack. Medical officials used glue to close a gaping wound in the middle of Mosley’s forehead.

“It was either glue or 13 stitches,” Mosley said early Thursday evening before beginning his work shift at the La Volta Italiano restaurant at 411 Fayetteville St.

Mosley also suffered a gash under his eye, injuries to his nose and bruises on his right arm.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the attack, and Mosley said he still suffers from headaches, dizziness and memory lapses.

Police say the assault occurred in front of La Volta on Nov. 24 between 2:30 and 3 a.m., when most of the downtown bars are closing.

Mosley said he, his girlfriend Mia Longo and a co-worker had been at Zinda: New Asian, a restaurant and bar about a block from La Volta.

“The co-worker had too much to drink,” Mosley said. “He got really drunk.”

Mosley and Longo helped their co-worker walk back to La Volta. Longo sat her purse down on a chair in front of the restaurant before going to help Mosley pick up the co-worker who had fallen down near the Jimmy John’s sandwich shop at 437 Fayetteville St.

“She was coming to assist me, and I told her to grab her cellphone to call a cab,” Mosley said. “She went back to get her phone, and then I heard her yell, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ”

Mosley later learned that a group of men had walked up, and one of them was going through Longo’s purse.

“I dropped my friend to see what was going on and ran to help her,” he said. “The next time I woke up, I was in the hospital.”

Police say the quintet punched and kicked Mosley. He does not remember the attack, but Longo told him the men put him in a head lock and beat him.

“They worked me over pretty good,” Mosley said. “When they were through, they threw me on the ground.”

Longo said the men were dressed “preppy.”

“Jeans, a pale yellow jacket, khakis, loafers,” she said Thursday. “One was wearing a suit.”

Police obtained video surveillance footage from the Progress Energy building. The cameras captured images of the men, but not the assault.

In one photo, two of the suspects can be seen shoving each other. It’s unknown whether they were engaged in a dispute or in horseplay.

Police ask that anyone who recognizes any of the suspects or who may have seen them elsewhere around the time of the assault call Raleigh Crime Stoppers at 919-834-4357, or go to the Crime Stoppers website at www.raleighcrimestoppers.org for instructions on how to report a tip online or by text message.