BURLINGTON — Three men have been arrested since Friday in robbery and assault cases relating to marijuana.
Two men were arrested over the weekend for allegedly robbing two others of a “multi-ounce” package of marijuana, according to police.
Police were called to a disturbance near the intersection of Pearl Street and Handy Court on Friday. Two male victims said they had attempted to sell the marijuana to men they knew from having sold them marijuana in the past, but instead were they were assaulted and robbed, court documents show. One victim told officers he was struck multiple times with the butt of a handgun during the altercation.
Officers arrested Dawshawn Lightford and Marvin Jones, both 21, at their Handy Court home Saturday morning after executing a search warrant and discovering a Glock semi-automatic handgun and an unidentified amount of pot.
Lightford and Jones were held for lack of $25,000 bail and were arraigned Monday on a felony assault and robbery charge. That charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, according to police.
Both pleaded not guilty and are being held at the Northwestern State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
In an unrelated incident, police arrested Muhamed Luhizo, 18, early Tuesday morning and later charged him with felony attempted assault and robbery. According to court documents, Luhizo had arrived at the College Street apartment of a person he later told police owed him money from a pot deal.
The victim’s roommates told police that after a loud altercation at the apartment, Luhizo and the roommate left to get money from an ATM.
Police found the pair at the TD Bank ATM at the corner of St. Paul and Main streets a short time later. Luhizo was standing over the victim who was in a “fetal position” in the bank’s ATM vestibule. He was making threatening gestures with what an officer thought could be a knife but turned out to be a pen.
The victim later told police Luhizo had threatened to “poke his eye out” with the pen. Luhizo told police he had been drinking earlier, court records say.
The officer exited his vehicle and drew his gun. He commanded Luhizo to drop what he was holding and place his hands on his head. Luhizo dropped the pen and fled, but was quickly caught by the officer, court records say.
During questioning, Luhizo volunteered that he had been trying to collect a drug debt, according to police.
“This guy told me to follow him to the bank, and once he got to the bank, he started acting up,” Luhizo is quoted as saying to police in a court document.
Luhizo is also a suspect in a Sept. 12 home invasion in which a group of men allegedly broke into a North Champlain Street home to steal marijuana, according to police. The resident was assaulted during the break-in, police say.
Luhizo faces a felony robbery and assault charge for that incident. He was arrested two days earlier on Sept. 10 for misdemeanor disorderly conduct resulting from a fight, court records show.
He faces an additional misdemeanor charge of violating the terms of his release, because a judge had ordered that he not consume alcohol following the disorderly conduct charge.
Luhizo spent Tuesday night at the Chittenden County Correctional facility. He appeared in Chittenden County Superior Court on Wednesday alongside his uncle who spoke to the court through an interpreter. Both men are Somali immigrants.
Judge Gregory Rainville allowed Luhizo to be released to his uncle provided he doesn’t consume alcohol or leave his uncle’s home, except to seek employment or in a medical emergency.
“I’m going to let you go home tonight. I shouldn’t but I will,” Rainville told Luhizo who was visibly emotional. Luhizo said he would not cause trouble for his uncle.
Luhizo’s uncle works during the day, so Rainville ordered Luhizo to return to court Thursday with his mother or older sister so that supervision arrangements could be made for the daytime.
“If you’re not in here at 8:35 we’ll issue an arrest warrant for you,” Rainville said.
