UPDATE: New charges have been added to the list of counts that two Western Michigan University football players will face when they are arraigned on Monday.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting has added armed robbery and larceny in a building to the original charge of first degree home invasion. Conviction on the most serious counts could result in life terms.
They have now also been booted off the team. They had originally been suspended, but on Sunday Ron George and Bryson White were dismissed.
The victim, who wants to remain anonymous, said she was shoved around and threatened with rape and death repeatedly during the robbery. She says they took $400 and some other items that were later recovered when the two were arrested.
PREVIOUS STORY:
KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) – Two Western Michigan University football players are being held at the Kalamazoo County Jail for first-degree home invasion after they allegedly forced their way into an apartment in the 1300 block of California Avenue and robbed a woman who lives there.
Public Safety says one of them was armed with a knife and the other with a semi-automatic hand gun when they broke in just before 9 p.m. Friday night. Initial reports placing the robbery at Draper Hall on the school’s Kalamazoo campus were not true. Kalamazoo Public Safety did, however, serve a search warrant there.
WOOD-TV reports that one of the two suspects had been sending the victim suggestive tweets earlier in the week and she had his phone number on her phone. A friend of the victim hid in the closet and dialed 911 while the two suspects allegedly ransacked the apartment.
A neighbor saw the pair wearing bandanas fleeing from the apartment and got their license number. It did not take long for public safety to track the two down.
Ronald George, a freshman linebacker from Pennsylvania, and Bryson White, a freshman wide receiver from Ohio, were found in a vehicle on campus with weapons and cash and taken into custody.
They are expected to be arraigned on Monday and more charges may be leveled.
Both players were part of the highly-praised 2016 recruiting class for WMU, which plays its first game against Northwestern on Sept. 3.
George and White have been suspended indefinitely. Both players have also been removed from the roster posted at the WMU athletics website.
Head Coach P.J. Fleck has issued a statement: “Having heard this news, I took action to immediately suspend both freshman players indefinitely. I’m extremely disappointed and want to assure the community that this kind of conduct is unacceptable and does not represent the values of this team or this university.”
– John McNeill contributed to this story.
