Two Texas A&M football players were arrested on robbery and drug charges Wednesday in College Station, and A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne suspended them from the football team Thursday.
College Station police arrested Oluwakorede Olayemi "Yemi" Babalola, 21, and Brandon Joiner, 18, after detectives searched Babalola's residence investigating an armed robbery and found marijuana. According to police reports, detectives gathered enough information to search Joiner's residence, where they discovered marijuana, ecstacy and hydrocodone.
Babalola was charged with possession of marijuana and aggravated robbery for the burglary and armed robbery of an apartment at Callaway Villas on Marion Pugh Drive. Aggravated robbery is a first-degree felony that carries a penalty of five to 99 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Joiner was charged with possession of marijuana and with two charges of possession of a controlled substance - one is a third-degree felony and the other is a class A misdemeanor. Police added two charges of aggravated robbery Thursday afternoon.
Babalola was released Wednesday evening from Brazos County Jail on $52,000 bond. Joiner's bond was set at $66,000 and he remains in custody.
The two players will remain suspended from the football team until they have been cleared of all charges, Byrne said in a news release.
"When Coach [Gary] Darnell called last night to inform me of the charges, he and I agreed that these young men need to be suspended from the football team," he said.
The investigation began when police reported to the scene of an armed robbery on Nov. 29 at Callaway Villas. A resident reported that two black males had entered the apartment and struck the resident who opened the door. One resident and a friend were bound by tape as one of the suspects pointed a handgun at them, police reported. Several items were stolen, and the suspects fled on foot.
The two suspects were described as black males. One was an approximately 6-foot-2-inch man with a heavy build wearing a black and white hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses, a baseball cap, a black bandana and carrying a black semi-automatic pistol, according to the police report. The second wore a maroon sweatshirt.
Babalola, a senior agricultural leadership and development major, is a 6-foot-4-inch, 315-pound starting offensive tackle from Bryan. Joiner, a freshman education development and sport management major, is a 6-foot-3-inch, 224-pound redshirted defensive end from Killeen, Texas.
Police said the investigation is still in progress and more charges could be filed.
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