PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A young Warwick man and three teenage boys from Warwick and Cranston are accused of robbing four Brown University students at gunpoint early Saturday morning.
Kaelon Pittman, 18, of 714 Warwick Ave., Warwick, a 15-year-old Cranston boy, and 16 and 17-year-old boys from Warwick, were all arrested an hour and a half after the armed robbery on College Hill.
The students told Providence police and Brown University police that they were walking near the intersection of Cooke and Benevolent streets around 1:30 a.m. when a green Honda Element pulled up nearby and let out two masked men with a gun.
David Hershkowitz, 20, Anthony Stott Jr., 20, Natasha Wollkind, 20, and Elizabeth Zorn, 19, told police the gunman ordered them to the ground and told them to empty their pockets. The robbers took their money and an iPhone, and ran back to the Honda.
Around 3 a.m., a security guard who'd heard about the robbery tipped off the police that he saw the Honda drive by on Douglas Avenue. The police stopped the SUV and discovered the four boys from out of town -- along with a BB handgun with a laser sight, a ski mask, the stolen iPhone and other stolen items, according to a police report.
After questioning the four, the robbery squad detectives linked the youths to a theft from a house party by Brown University that same night.
Pittman and the three teens were charged with three counts of first-degree robbery, assault with intent to commit robbery, and conspiracy. The juveniles were also charged with entering a building with intent to commit larceny.
Pittman was arraigned Monday at District Court and ordered held without bail. The juveniles were petitioned to Family Court.