A football player at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, who was arrested in connection with a home invasion robbery at a campus dorm, appeared before a judge on Sunday.
Lelend Johnson, 18, was arrested on Thursday on charges of home invasion robbery with aggravated battery, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
Another football player, Russell Stroud Jr., 21, was also charged in the alleged home invasion.
During Johnson’s court appearance, detectives working the case said that the victim told them that he heard a knock at his door at around 11 p.m. and saw Johnson outside.
When the victim opened the door, other people wearing hoodies and masks came into the dorm and started beating the victim, and at one point, pistol-whipped the victim, the detective said in court.
The detective said that while the victim was being beaten, Johnson was standing in the room.
An arrest report said the suspects took the victim’s bookbag that contained school supplies and his high school diploma, and one of them grabbed his phone but dropped it as they ran out of the room.
The victim said he didn’t know why he was targeted, and had recognized Stroud from his dreadlocks, the reports said.
Police reviewed surveillance footage that showed multiple subjects exiting one dorm room and standing nearby while Johnson, who wasn’t wearing a mask, knocked on the victim’s door, the reports said.
When Johnson was interviewed by detectives, he said he came from Stroud’s room but was alone when he knocked on the door and said multiple people came out of nowhere, and he tried to stop them from entering, the reports said.
A judge ultimately denied Johnson’s bond.
On FMU Athletics website, Johnson, under the name Leeland, is listed as a sophomore linebacker from Gainesville.
Stroud is currently being held without bond, and is expected to appear before a judge on Monday.
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