Court records: Authorities drop charges against Dartmouth student who had been accused in armed robbery
Published: 09-18-2023 3:54 PM |
HANOVER — A Dartmouth College student who was accused of robbing an armored vehicle in Colorado earlier this year had the criminal charges against him dismissed, the judicial record sealed and is back on campus in Hanover and enrolled as a student.
All charges brought against Ahmir Braxton, who was a 19-year-old member of Dartmouth’s Class of 2025 at the time of his arrest last May on felony charges alleging involvement in an armed robbery in Colorado Springs in February, were dismissed by the El Paso County district attorney, according to arrest records of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Neither a date nor reason for the dismissal of the charges is provided in the CBI records.
The silence was unanimous last week among people able to shed light on why the charges against Braxton were dropped.
Braxton, who had been extradited from Grafton County jail to Colorado in June, is now enrolled for the fall term, Dartmouth College spokesman Justin Anderson confirmed this week. Anderson said he was unable to provide further comment.
Brandy Ferguson, Braxton’s mother, also confirmed that her son has returned to Hanover.
“He is definitely back at Dartmouth. And of course the charges were dropped or he wouldn’t be back at Dartmouth,” Ferguson said when contacted by the Valley News earlier this week, adding that “at this time I don’t have any further comment pertaining to this matter.”
“We’re just trying to get our life back on track right now,” Ferguson said.
Article continues after...
Yesterday's Most Read Articles
Braxton did not respond to messages asking for comment left with a telephone number identified in court documents as belonging to him or to email sent to his Dartmouth email address.
Earlier this year, the Colorado Judicial Branch for El Paso County showed online records of felony charges brought against Braxton alleging his involvement in an armed robbery by three people of an armored vehicle while it was making a cash delivery to an ATM in Colorado Springs.
A 15-page affidavit prepared by Colorado Springs Police Detective Grant Nelson and attached to Braxton’s arrest warrant sent to Lebanon police purported to show, through a combination of data culled from social media, surveillance video, mobile phone and automotive vehicle records, that Braxton was one of the three masked and hooded suspects involved in the robbery.
Nelson did not return a phone call for comment this week.
The El Paso County court system no longer shows court records pertaining to Braxton’s former criminal case. In Colorado, when charges are dismissed against a defendant the charges are “sealed” by the court, meaning no public record of the former docket exists.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office in Colorado’s 4th Judicial District in El Paso County, where the charges against Braxton were brought, declined to comment.
Braxton graduated from Vista Ridge High School in Colorado Springs, where he played defensive back on the football team. He was a team captain as a senior and also cheered and competed in gymnastics, according to media accounts.
In two seasons with the Big Green, Braxton has appeared in just one game — a win at Columbia on Oct. 22, 2022 — and did not register any statistics.
When, or even whether, Braxton will continue his football career at Dartmouth is unknown.
Braxton is “not on the football roster as of right now,” Dartmouth athletics spokesman Rick Bender said Friday. “No determination has been made yet in terms of him rejoining the team. Right now we have 110 members on the team and that’s the limit we can have.”
Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.
CORRECTION: Ahmir Braxton was a 19-year-old member of the class of 2025 at Dartmouth College at the time of his arrest in May. A previous version of this story reported the wrong class year.