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APD: mother/daughter said they fought off burglar -- but they were attackers

Not your typical crime story. From an APD press release:

Albany detectives have arrested a mother and daughter for robbing and beating a Watervliet man with a baseball bat and table lamp and then filing a report with police claiming he had burglarized their apartment.

The whole alleged situation has a TV crime procedural arc about it. Detectives rolling up to the crime scene, talking with witnesses, the twist, and now the Law & Order clang CLANG. (The courtroom part is after the next commercial break.)

The whole thing is after the jump.

APD: mother and daughter arrested

Albany detectives have arrested a mother and daughter for robbing and beating a Watervliet man with a baseball bat and table lamp and then filing a report with police claiming he had burglarized their apartment.

Katrina Woodhouse, 56, and Tyera Putnam, 35, of 300 Third Street, were charged Monday afternoon with Robbery 1st, Assault 1st and Falsely Reporting an Incident relating to an incident on September 16, 2011. Both women were arraigned in Albany City Criminal Court Monday afternoon and remanded to Albany County Jail without bail.

On Friday afternoon, September 16 police had responded to a fight call to 300 Third Street. When officers arrived they initially interviewed Woodhouse and Putnam who were sitting on the front porch. The two women told officers that Christopher Cohen had come to the two family house and forced his way into the first floor apartment. They told officers they fought off Cohen by hitting him with a baseball bat until he fled from the house.

Cohen was still on the scene when officers arrived. He had sustained a serious leg injury and had several lacerations to his head and face. He was taken to Albany Medical Center where doctors determined he had a shattered femur, a concussion and several large lacerations to the back and top of his head.

Detectives interviewed Cohen at the hospital. He told them he specializes in buying jewelry and had gone to Woodhouse's apartment earlier in the day to buy some gold jewelry. He purchased a small amount of jewelry from Woodhouse and then went back in the afternoon to try and purchase more. He went inside the apartment and sat down of the couch. Putnam came up behind him and hit him with a baseball bat in the back of the head. Woodhouse then took a table lamp and started to hit in the leg and knee. Cohen went to the ground and the two woman continued to hit him in the leg and head. He was able to crawl out into the hallway. The two woman followed him out into the hallway and continued to hit him with the lamp and baseball bat. Two unknown men then appeared and took his wallet, cell phone and a black duffel bag. They then ran out of the apartment house and up the street. Cohen eventually got up on one leg and was able to get down the front stairs and onto Third Street where officers found him when they arrived.

During the course of the investigation detectives determined that Cohen was the victim of the robbery and assault and that Woodhouse and Putnam had set up to rob and beat him when he returned to the house a second time.

The two men who participated in the robbery have not been identified.

Cohen's duffle bag and wallet were recovered.