Two men confess to Sept. 7 gunpoint robbery of ESF student
Two men have confessed to the Sept. 7 gunpoint robbery of a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student in a parking lot on the 100 block of Smith Lane, said Sgt. Tom Connellan of the Syracuse Police Department.
Police do not believe the men, Nathaniel Flagg, 17, and Glen Hicks, 19, committed the four other near- and on-campus robberies, Connellan said.
‘We have nothing to connect them to the other four robberies,’ he said.
Police charged Flagg and Hicks each with one count of first-degree robbery and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon for their role in the Sept. 7 incident, Connellan said.
Flagg and Hicks have been in police custody since Oct. 2 when they and a third man, Timothy Glover, 16, were charged with first-degree robbery in connection to another incident on Smith Lane. On Sept. 3, Flagg, Hicks and Glover robbed a group of five men outside on the 100 block of Smith Lane. Glover was not charged in the Sept. 7 robbery, Connellan said.
The investigation of the other four robberies will continue. Connellan declined to provide details on the investigation.
In addition to the Sept. 7 robbery linked to Flagg and Hicks, a SU student was robbed the same night as he walked behind Heroy Geology Laboratory on the SU campus at 10:15 p.m., less than an hour after Flagg and Hicks allegedly robbed the other student.
On Sept. 9, two ESF students were robbed at gunpoint by two men at the 100 block of Judson Street near Westcott Street.
On Sept. 28, a SU graduate student and his companion were walking on Fellows Avenue in the Westcott Street area when two men robbed the graduate student at gunpoint. Two days later, two men robbed a ESF graduate student at gunpoint on the 900 block of Lancaster Avenue.
Flagg’s past
Flagg, one of the men who confessed to police, has been arrested multiple times, including in connection to an April 6, 2008 robbery of a SU student near the 1100 block of Comstock Avenue, Connellan said. Flagg was charged with second-degree attempted robbery on April 6.
The victim was walking from the Vincent Apartments, located at 105 Smith Lane, to a bus stop on Comstock Avenue when he noticed four to five men walking nearby, Connellan said.
The student crossed the street to avoid them and noticed two men begin to follow him. One man, Flagg, was thinly built and wore a green shirt. The other assailant was shorter than Flagg.
Flagg and the shorter man attacked the SU student from behind, and punched, choked and kicked him. When the victim reported the incident, his lip was cut, and his face was bloody, Connellan said.
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Published on October 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm
