| Juvenile to face adult charges in campus robbery, kidnapping | | Posted: Friday, November 30, 2012 12:00 pm
| By BRAD GASKINS
News Editor
A 17 year-old has been charged as an adult for his alleged role in the Nov. 12 armed robbery and kidnapping of two students on UT Martin’s campus.
The case against Quinton McClerkin of Paris was to be transferred to Weakley County Circuit Court, Juvenile Judge James Bradberry ruled Tuesday in a transfer hearing.
McClerkin’s bond was set at $100,000. His legal troubles began about 11:45 p.m. on Nov. 12.
That’s when McClerkin, Cortez Bowen, Richard L. Taylor and Jeremy L. Anderson allegedly robbed and kidnapped two UTM students at gunpoint for $700 cash and marijuana.
All four are charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated robbery.
The victims were identified in an affidavit as Christian Thompson and Kevin Night.
The suspects stopped a car driven by the victims near University Village Phase I apartments, the eastern-most of the new apartment-style facilities on campus, according to Scott Robbins, UTM’s director of public safety.
Two suspects — one armed with a shotgun, the other a handgun — got into the car driven by the victims, Robbins said.
The victims were then allegedly forced to drive to another area of campus, at which point Thompson was put into another car and held hostage,
Meanwhile, Night allegedly was forced to go to a dorm and retrieve drugs and $700 cash.
UTM police were called at 12:33 a.m.
Both victims were injured in the incident, with one of them taken to a hospital for treatment and released a few hours later.
UTM police investigated the case, while Martin city police assisted with the investigation.
The stolen money and at least some of the stolen marijuana were recovered when Anderson was arrested, according to Scott Robbins, UTM’s director of public safety. A total of 43 grams of marijuana was recovered — 22.3 grams in Anderson’s vehicle and another 20.7 grams at the residence where Anderson was arrested, Robbins said.
A preliminary hearing for Bowen, Taylor and Anderson is scheduled for Wednesday. All three are former UTM football players.
Bowen was on the team at the time of the alleged crime. Taylor was dismissed from the team in September for violation of team rule. Anderson was dismissed for violating team rules in the summer and was never on the UTM 2012 roster.
Published in The WCP 11.29.12 | | | | |
