University Police charged three university students, including one who is already in jail, in connection with a December robbery on the campus, and still may be looking for more suspects.
Police arrested Brandon Darnell Benston, a 19-year-old from Suitland, and Joshua Shaine Harris, a 20-year-old from College Park, on Monday in connection with the robbery, charging each with multiple counts of robbery, theft, assault and credit card violations. Both are identified in the university directory as students.
Antuane Lamont Allen, a 20-year-old from College Park, is already incarcerated after he was arrested by Prince George's County Police for a separate Knox Road robbery on Jan. 10. Although his warrant has not yet been served, Allen will face robbery, theft, misdemeanor assault and illegal credit card use counts, as well.
The three men are accused of approaching two non-student victims at 1:30 a.m. between Annapolis and Frederick Halls on Dec. 21 and knocking them to the ground. The suspects kicked one victim until he surrendered his wallet, and then took the second victim's wallet and cell phone.
The original crime alert sent by University Police reported that there were five suspects involved in the crime. University Police spokesman Paul Dillon said investigators are looking into the possibility that more people were involved, but no one is currently under suspicion.
University Police were able to get pictures of Allen and Benston after they used one of the victim's credit cards at a McDonald's and were caught on surveillance. At that time, police had no way of identifying the names of the people seen on the footage, Dillon said.
On Jan. 16, university officers photographed Allen and recorded his name after he was involved in a fight in downtown College Park. Investigators initially gave his information to county police after recognizing him from county-obtained surveillance images related to the Knox Road robbery. Following Allen's arrest, police also identified him as one of the men in their own surveillance images.
On Jan. 26, University Police detectives went to the county detention center where Allen was being held on bond and interviewed him. In the interview, he admitted to using the cards, and also implicated Benston and Harris.
All three are now in jail, and University Police have made arrests in seven out of the 10 on-campus robberies that occurred in 2008.
"It's a relief to get these guys off the street," Dillon said. "One of those guys is responsible for multiple robberies, and hopefully he'll be held accountable for that."
Dillon said the work of University Police has been more aggressive, and the closure rate is up. In 2007, only four out of nine robbery cases were closed.
Arrests are also up in general, Dillon said. Although 2008 data has not yet been compiled, liquor-related arrests and illegal weapons arrests were on the rise for the second consecutive year in 2007, according to police statistics published in the department's annual report.
"It's not rocket science - you make more arrests, there's less crime," Dillon said. "If criminals know they get caught in College Park, they're not going to want to come here."
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