A South Jersey high school football player appeared in court Monday after he and three teammates were arrested in connection to a string of robberies in two different towns.
Devin Delanie, 18, and three 17-year-old boys are charged with armed robbery and other related offenses. Delanie and the three teens allegedly committed three robberies in the span of 30 minutes in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Police also said Delanie and at least two of the teens were involved in the robbery of two women in Toms River, New Jersey as well as a robbery at a Toms River Red Lobster restaurant back on September 26.
The four suspects are all students at Lakewood High School and play for the football team.
“It’s a shame,” said Jasmine Adame, a senior at Lakewood High. “They were about to graduate, had a whole future ahead of them and they messed up.”
Delanie appeared in court Monday and is being held on $250,000 bail. His father Bryant Worthy told NBC10’s Ted Greenberg his son was falsely accused and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He’s not guilty,” Worthy said. “[[The charges]] are false. He’s a good guy. Just like OJ Simpson, he plays basketball and football.”
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NBC10 also reached out to the Lakewood School District for comment.
“We have a memorandum of agreement with local law enforcement,” wrote Lakewood School District Superintendent Laura A. Winters. “Part of the agreement is that a statement will not be made until the criminal investigation is completed.”
A spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office told NBC10 a decision on whether the three 17-year-old suspects will be charged as adults won’t be made until his office receives all documentation on the case from police.
