Last week, the Troy Police Department made arrests on two men charged with robbing five RPI students at knife-point on November 1 and November 2.
Travis Mears, a 17-year-old from Watervliet, was charged with two counts of robberies in the first degree, and one count of criminal possession of a weapon. The second perpetrator, 19-year-old Christopher Morris, was charged with three counts of first degree robbery, one charge of assault, and one charge of attempted assault.
Two of the robberies involving RPI students occurred within 20 minutes of each other in the early morning hours of November 2. RPI mechanical engineering graduate student Ashish Modi was walking from RPI towards his apartment on 13th Street when he saw the two suspects approaching him. According to the Troy Police incident report, the two passed Modi and then followed him west on Eagle Street to 12th Street. The two then stopped Modi.
“Money! Money!” yelled Mears as he opened his switchblade knife.
Modi told Morris and Mears that he was a student and didn’t have any money.
Mears then punched Modi in the nose and knocked him to the ground. Mears then removed Modi’s wallet and crushed his eyeglasses. During the entire incident Morris was looking through Modi’s book bag.
“Next time I see you and you don’t have any money I’m gonna [expletive deleted] you,” said Mears as the two fled the scene going east on Eagle Street.
Eighteen minutes later at 2:13 am engineering power graduate student Amit Kekare was also walking home when he saw the two suspects running towards him. Kekare was heading north on 13th Street approaching Eagle Street when the suspects knocked him down on the ground onto his back.
According to Kekare, the two said “Put your hands over your head.”
The first suspect, Mears, held a knife to Kekare’s throat and demanded money. The second suspect Morris held down Kekare’s arms while Mears removed his wallet from his back pocket.
Kekare asked that the two not take his RPI identification card. Mears took the cash from Kekare’s wallet and handed the wallet back to him.
The two then ran south on 13th Street into North Lot on the RPI campus.
Mears and Morris have been remanded to the Rensselaer County Jail and face charges on class B.
“Probably five of the 10 victims were RPI students. The two were involved in at least seven to eight robberies. Not every victim was able to get a good look at the two, positive ID’s were made in four of the cases,” said Sgt. John Riegert of the Troy Police Department.
All the RPI victims were international students, but Sgt. Riegert stated that the two committed a string of robberies around Troy including victims from diverse ethnic groups.
In the early days following the assaults, the details and connections between the four incidents in which RPI students were involved were sketchy and the crime pattern was still emerging.
Public Safety released a campuswide crime alert to notify students. Public Safety Director Bernie Drobnicki urged students to remain safety conscious and use the resources available from the department.
“Use your common sense. When working late at night leave in a group, call a roommate or friend and tell them you’re on your way, and be aware of your surroundings.” He also added that since September 11, Public Safety has expanded its escort service to serve off-campus residents. The service runs Monday through Friday from 5 pm to 1 am. Drobnicki indicated that if students need an escort outside of the escort service hours they should still call Public Safety.
“If you are ever concerned about your safety, or see something suspicious call us, our priority is the safety of students and the campus,” said Drobnicki.
