BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Bloomington police arrested a former Indiana University football player Thursday in connection to a kidnapping and robbery investigation.
Around 6:15 a.m. on April 6, police responded to a report of a robbery in the 2900 block of East Amy Lane, near State Road 46 and East 10th Street.
The 30-year-old victim told police he connected with someone on the dating app Grindr and invited him over to his apartment for consensual sexual activity around 2 a.m.
According to the victim, the suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Da'Shaun Brown, of Bloomington, wore a face-covering and asked that the lights inside the apartment be turned off so he couldn't be identified.
After engaging in consensual sexual activity, the victim told police Brown pulled out a large knife, held it to his neck and threatened to kill him if the victim didn't give Brown all of his money.
Then, the victim said he showed Brown his wallet, which only had credit cards and no cash. The victim told police Brown then covered the victim's face with a coat and forced him to walk outside to the suspect's vehicle, where Brown struck the victim in the face before telling him to get in the back seat.
According to the victim, Brown went to a nearby ATM twice to try to get cash with the victim's credit cards.
After going to the ATM, the victim said Brown took him back to his home and deleted the victim's Grindr app from his phone before leaving. According to the victim, Brown also threatened to kill him and told him not to call police.
Detectives obtained a court order Thursday to look through surveillance footage at a nearby bank, which showed the suspect's vehicle and visible license plate.
From this evidence, detectives found the vehicle parked in the 1200 block of North Lincoln Street, which is nearly three miles northwest from where the incident happened, and saw a man matching the suspect's description.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m. Thursday, detectives knocked on the suspect's door, where they met Brown.
Detectives searched the home and found clothing that matched the suspect's description, as well as three credit cards with the victim's name on them.
Brown faces the following charges:
- Robbery — Level 3 felony
- Kidnapping — Level 3 felony
- Battery with bodily injury — Class A misdemeanor
According to an IU spokesperson, Brown has not been a student at the university since fall 2021, and his last day with the football team was Oct. 19, 2021.
What other people are reading:
- IMPD: Changes to red flag procedures are working 1 year after FedEx shooting
- Investigative genealogy cracking Indiana cold cases
- Protect your flock from avian flu with these steps
- Friday procession honors memory of Indianapolis man who died during Nevada RV trip
- IU researchers developing rotavirus/norovirus oral infant vaccine
