Three men were arrested early Monday in connection with the armed robbery of a 24-year-old woman in Portland who told police she was stunned by a Taser and struck on the head with a handgun.

Officers heard a woman screaming for help near Franklin and Congress streets around 2:30 a.m. Monday and saw three men running from the area, police said. Police began searching for the men and found the victim, who told police she had been assaulted and robbed.

“The victim said the men, who she does not know, knocked her to the ground and tried to steal her purse,” Assistant Chief Vern Malloch said in a news release. “She was tased by one man and hit on the head with a handgun by a second man. She screamed for help and the men ran away when police cars were approaching.”

Police arrested Kordell Wadley and Devin Bedard, both of Biddeford, and Tyler Poirier of Sanford in an alley between Temple and Exchange streets. All three men are 18.

Police have charged the men with robbery, aggravated assault and refusing to submit to arrest.

The victim was treated at a local hospital for injuries from the assault and has since been released, police said.

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A second woman later told police she was robbed by three men on Oxford Street minutes before the Congress Street incident. She was not injured, police said. That case is under investigation and no one has been charged in connection with the allegations.

Malloch said police would not release the booking photos of the three men on Monday because they may appear in lineups with other potential victims or witnesses.

Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at:

ggraham@pressherald.com


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