Arrests made in campus robbery case
Georgia Millitary College students Robert William Renshaw, 19, and Rashawn Erek Abernathy, 18, have each been charged with armed robbery and counts of entering auto with the intent to steal. Both listed Magnolia Park as their residence.
The Milledgeville Police Department headed up the investigation with help from GCSU Public Safety. Detective Robert Butler was in charge for Public Safety.
“We started the investigation within hours of the armed robbery,” Butler said. “We started by looking through school security footage. We have over 100 cameras on campus.”
The tapes revealed footage of a possible getaway vehicle and information on the vehicle was passed on to patrol officers with Public Safety and MPD.
However, the first break in the investigation came from a call from the Milledgeville Applebees.
“Milledgeville Police Department was notified by Applebees of an individual who left the establishment without paying but left behind a credit card,” Butler said. “The card came back to belong to one of the victims of the armed robbery.”
That lead to the Nov. 19 arrest of Renshaw. Abernathy remained at large until turning himself into MPD on Nov. 21.
Police believe the pair is also responsible for a number of the entering autos in the downtown Milledgeville area recently, but not all of them.
“It looks like what these guys were up to was just entering cars that were unlocked and grabbing anything they can see that was valuable to them,” Butler said. “We believe the cars that have been broken into by breaking in windows is another individual or group of individuals.”
Renshaw and Abernathy remain in custody after being denied bond, but Butler said both are cooperating with the investigation.
Now, Butler said, the focus on the investigation is recovering stolen property or getting restitution for victims.
“So far there has been a small amount of property recovered,” Butler said. “At this point the Milledgeville Police Department along with university police want to clear our entering autos and help out our victims.”
MPD has also arrested and charged a third individual with entering autos with the intent to steal.
Fellow GMC student and Magnolia Park resident James Seymour was arrested and let out on Bond.
“(Seymour) was the one whose car they were using,” Butler said.
Seymour was not charged in the armed robbery.
Butler urges students to lock their car doors and hide any visible valuables. He also said that installing car alarms is a deterrent to criminals.
“(Renshaw and Abernathy) said in their interviews that they were scared away from entering a Jeep Wrangler when its alarm went off.”
Protecting the campus community is the main goal of Public Safety.
“Our goal is to try and keep the university campus safer and Bobcat village and anywhere our students are housed and attend classes,” Butler said. “I can’t stop an armed robber, but we do what we are doing whenever someone victimizes our students and we’re going to go after (the criminals) to the fullest until we track and arrest them.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Dec 5 2008. Filed under News.
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