Two former Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU) students attacked and robbed a teenager on Redstone campus Oct. 2, according to
UVM police. Taylor C.
Gingras of
Hinesburg and
Mayson Kropf of
Shelburne have denied charges of assault and robbery with injury.
Gingras struck the 18-year-old victim, who preferred not be identified, on the head while
Kropf took his wallet, according to
UVM police. Police reports indicate that a third suspect was also involved. Witnesses had reported seeing the assault occur near Christie Hall,
UVM Officer Robert M. Bailey said in a court affidavit. One witness chased after the three suspects toward Wing Davis
Wilks and Hamilton Halls, and
Kropf threatened to fight him. Once the attack was reported shortly after 4:30
a.m., police arrested both
Gingras and
Kropf in the Hamilton Hall room of first-year James
Edgerton. Police also identified Robert
Dombrowski, who had graduated from
CVU along with
Gingras and
Kropf in June.
Dombrowski told police he had been threatened and pushed by the robbery victim, according to Officer Bailey in a Burlington Free Press article.
Dombrowski said
Gringras had defended him and punched the victim repeatedly. If convicted,
Gingras and
Kropf face up to 20 years in prison.
Gingras has also denied a separate charge of violating probation following a felony arrest in June, when
Hinesburg police said they found him in possession of marijuana and scales at
CVU.
Gingras had been on a deferred sentence on that charge of possession of marijuana. He could face up to six months in jail on the original charge, according to the Burlington Free Press. A status conference, where the trial date will be decided, is scheduled for Nov. 4 in the
Chittenden Criminal Division court, according to the court’s docket. In reaction to the incident, students appeared to be concerned, but not overly so. “I was a little disturbed to hear what happened, but I definitely wouldn’t point fingers at campus security,” first-year Casey Powell said. “As much as we would like to think violence doesn’t take place here, it does; but
UVM is not to
blame.” Some students said that they would feel safer walking home with friends from now on. “From what I heard, it happened from someone saying something to a group of kids who don’t go here, who then kicked his ass and took his wallet,” sophomore Myles Olson said. “It definitely makes me want to start walking home with my boys if I’ve been out drinking, because I sometimes have a tendency to talk shit after a few
cocktails.”