Five Rutgers Football Players Arrested on Assault Charges
Five players from the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, whose most famous NFL alum has his own assault issues, have been arrested on charges of assault. According to NJ.com, the charges stem from an assault of “a group of individuals, including one student whose jaw was broken” in an attack that was unprovoked.
The five players – Ruhann Peele, Nadir Barnwell, Rahzonn Gross, Delon Stephenson, and Daryl Stephenson (the only former player of the bunch, having foregone his final year of eligibility) – are counted among ten total suspects. Barnwell is also at the center of an eligibility issue involving Coach Kyle Flood reportedly breaking rules by contacting his professors. The assault was laid out in a release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office:
The investigation began last spring when police were called to a home invasion on Prosper Street in New Brunswick on April 26, 2015 at 11:29 p.m., after three masked men forced their way into the home and stole an undisclosed amount of cash and marijuana from five students at gunpoint.
During an intensive investigation, police arrested Tejay Johnson, 23, of Egg Harbor. The former student was charged with robbery, criminal restraint, theft, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
As the investigation continued, police linked Johnson to a home invasion on Hartwell Street in New Brunswick on April 27, 2015.
Police determined that Johnson and Andre Boggs, 20, of Coatesville, Pa., forced their way into the home and, armed with a bat and a knife, robbed a student of approximately $900 and an undisclosed amount of marijuana … Another student, Dylan Mastriana, 19, of Rio Grande, also was charged with those counts after the investigation determined that he helped plan the robbery.
In a third home invasion, Johnson and Boggs were charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and attempted burglary while armed for trying to force their way into another student’s room in a dormitory complex at Livingston College in Piscataway on May 5, 2015.
The same charges also were filed against Mastriana, Jianan Chen, 19, of New Brunswick, and Kaylanna Ricks, 20, of Perth Amboy. The investigation showed that Mastriana and Chen planned the robbery, while Ricks drove Johnson and Boggs in a getaway vehicle.
So, if you’re keeping count – or just skimmed the block quote – that’s ten suspects, in two armed robberies (and one attempted robbery), involving a bunch of cash and stolen weed. I’m sure the NCAA will have something to say about this.