Police arrested two men Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery for their connection to an armed robbery reported to have taken place Thursday.
The two men, Glen Williams, 24, and Tony Atkins, also 24, allegedly entered an apartment, tied two people up with Xbox cords and demanded marijuana while brandishing guns.
Williams and Atkins were arrested on preliminary charges of robbery, a serious felony, with a $30,000 bail set per person. The charges were ultimately downgraded to conspiring to commit a robbery because of difficulties proving the two actually committed the robbery.
One of the two victims told police he was in his bedroom when he heard the front door open. The 20-year-old said he expected the visitors to be his friends, but instead found his roommate and two men with guns.
The suspects, who were described as black males with black hoodies and sweatpants, allegedly entered the house and asked where the marijuana was.
When the victims refused to provide marijuana, the suspects allegedly tied the victims’ wrists together with Xbox cords. The 20-year-old victim told police that one suspect kicked his friend and continued to question them about the marijuana while the other searched the apartment.
He said the suspects took a MacBook laptop, a Windows tablet, a PlayStation 4, an Xbox 360 and a North Face backpack before fleeing 15 minutes after entering the residence.
During the incident, one victim was knocked unconscious and was later taken to IU Health by ambulance. The other victim, the 20-year-old, called the police to report a robbery in progress.
Officers who arrived on the scene found one of the victims lying on the floor with an injury on his right eyebrow and swelling around the eye.
The conscious victim told police about Williams, who he said had visited the apartment a few days before to ask for marijuana.
Police located Williams and found him wearing a black backpack and black sweatpants. He was also with his cousin, Atkins, who said he was visiting from Indianapolis that day.
Officers found two MacBook laptops and one Windows tablet in the black backpack. One of the laptops had a victim’s username while the tablet had the other victim’s username.
Police then brought both men to the police station for questioning and obtained a search warrant for the suspects’ car. Officers found a black North Face backpack, a PlayStation 4 and an Xbox 360 in the car.
During questioning, Williams denied any connection to the robbery and said he never left his house. Atkins, however, admitted to talking about committing the robbery with Williams but claimed it was someone else who actually did it.
Christine Fernando
