Police arrested two men, one of them a student, in connection with Saturday’s robbery at Cambridge Oaks Apartments.
UHPD Chief Ceaser Moore said in Tuesday’s press conference about the Cambridge Oaks robbery that students’ fears should not be heightened because the crime was not random, as initially suspected. | Mahnoor Samana/The Daily Cougar
James Manns was arrested at about 6:30 a.m. today in Pearland and has been charged with aggravated robbery with a pending additional aggravated robbery charge, said UH police chief Ceaser Moore in a press conference.
At 7:30 a.m., Samy Gharbaoui was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana, Moore said.
Gharbaoui, a student living in Cambridge Oaks, had sold drugs to Manns earlier the day of the robbery, Moore said. Later on, Manns texted Gharbaoui asking for more, but Gharbaoui was not at his apartment. Manns and three others then went to Gharbaoui’s apartment and proceeded to rob the other two residents at gunpoint and search for the drugs.
“This crime was not a stranger-on-stranger crime,” Moore said. “He was going back to get more drugs.”
Moore said that because the crime was not random, students don’t need to take this as an indicator of personal danger.
“Other students on campus are not at risk of being victimized by other people invading their residences,” Moore said.
Through the course of the investigation, police uncovered a safe full of Adderall, ecstasy, LSD and marijuana.
Manns was already on bail for possession of marijuana, and police are seeking to have that revoked in addition to the charge already brought against him.
Moore said he has no specific plans to increase the security presence on campus in response to recent crimes.
“This was a relationship issue, and an increased patrol will not change that,” Moore said. “That’s one of those things where people need to be vigilant, and if they see something, they should say something.”
Police are still working to identify the other three suspects who accompanied Manns, Moore said.
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