2 former SRU players get probation
Two former Slippery Rock University football players were sentenced to probation in Butler County Court Thursday, after being charged in connection with an armed robbery in Slippery Rock Township in 2015.
Calvert W. Anderson Jr., 25, and Robert J. Brown, 23, were both sentenced to three years' probation, $849 in restitution, 50 hours of community service and a $75 fine by Judge William Shaffer, after both previously pleaded guilty to charges in two cases, including misdemeanor conspiracy to theft, simple assault and possession of a controlled substance.
Anderson and Brown were charged alongside two other people — Julian Durden, 23, and Quatrell Jones, 25 — with allegedly robbing Kessel Weber Nov. 19, 2015, in his apartment at The Grove in Slippery Rock Township — stealing money, loose change, a cell phone and marijuana.
All four, who were SRU students at the time, were charged by Pennsylvania State Police with felony counts of burglary, robbery, theft and related charges, after being identified as the individuals who broke into a first-floor apartment in Building 11 at The Grove at 145 Harmony Road, holding Weber and a friend at gunpoint while stealing the items.
Police said Weber knew the men who robbed him and identified Durden and Anderson.
On Thursday, Anderson's attorney George Bills said his client was “one of the top defensive backs in the state” and “had a chance to sign with the Canadian Football League” but his arrest waylaid those hopes.
“It is unfortunate that this incident happened and changed his life, it could have gone in a much different direction,” he said.
Brown's attorney, Scott Westcott, said much the same about his client, who plays semi-professional football with a team in Canonsburg, Washington County, calling the incident an “aberration of character.”
All four men were expelled and banned from campus as a result of the charges, and Westcott said Brown would like to return to college now that the charges are resolved.
Since his expulsion from SRU, Anderson has completed cosmetology school and now owns his own business, Bills said.
Both Anderson and Brown apologized to the court regarding their actions. Anderson said the case was a “bump in the road” and he wanted to “get on with the rest of my life,” while Brown said it changed his life, and he has since taken classes at Community College of Allegheny County for business management.
Westcott also requested that Brown's supervision be transferred to Allegheny County, where he is a resident.
The four men also were charged with drug charges stemming from items confiscated by police when searching their shared apartment in Slippery Rock Township.
According to the criminal complaint police found in the apartment two bags of marijuana in a duffel bag with Durden's name on it and five plastic bags containing marijuana in a backpack with Jones' Social Security card in it.
Anderson and Brown also were charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia as a result of the search warrant.
Several handguns also were found, police said.
All four were arraigned and held in Butler County Prison on $110,000 bail, which was later reduced to unsecured, and all four were released.
Jones and Durden also pleaded guilty to the same charges, and are awaiting sentencing on Sept. 7.
