Three Nabbed in Nov. Beta 2 Mugging

Nearly three months after the incident, USA Police have arrested three suspects in the Nov. 7 Beta 2 robbery, USA Chief of Police Normand Gamache said.

Jamie Devon Johnson, 19, and two minors, both of them 17, were charged with first degree robbery in connection with the incident. One of the minors was also charged with second degree assault and resisting arrest.

The minors’ names have been withheld for courtesy.

Gamache said USA Police made the arrests based on a gas charge placed on a credit card stolen from the Beta 2 room, and they got the car’s tag number off of the gas station cameras.

“Sgt. [Philip] Fishel and Detective [Damian] Pichea did a marvelous job continuing the investigation,” Gamache said.

According to police, the robbery happened after a Beta 2 dormitory resident allowed three males into his room at 3 a.m.

“Once in the room, they pulled handguns from under their coats and demanded the resident’s belongings,” according to a campus-wide e-mail sent after the event.

Stolen were two laptops and an iPhone, worth between $1,500 and $1,600.

One of the minors was arrested March 1 at his home, according to Gamache. Johnson was booked Feb. 18 on charges not relevant to the robbery, attempting to elude police, and reckless driving. University of South Alabama Police charged him with the robbery while he was already booked. 

The third suspect turned himself in March 2 after University police officers told his mother that would be the “smart thing [for him] to do,” Gamache said.

Johnson and the third suspect are listed as released on $40,000 and $25,000 bond, respectively. The minor charged with assault is listed as still in jail, with no bond set for the first degree robbery charge.

Police have not found a link between this event and the Nov. 9 attempted robbery in the Delta parking lot in which the perpetrators demanded the student’s wallet after pushing him against a dumpster, according to Gamache.

The e-mail sent out about the two incidents gives the same descriptions for the suspects.

Police are still investigating the Dec. 22 robbery in which three males forced entry into a Beta 5 dorm room and pistol whipped the resident. The attackers in that incident stole the victim’s wallet, laptop computer, and cell phone.