Picture: Robert Mitchell's Mugshot
By Alexi Friedman and James Queally/Star-Ledger Staff
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http://www.nj.com/college-basketball/index.ssf/2010/03/former_seton_hall_player_robert_mitchell_charged_with_kidnapping_robbery_other_offenses.htmlTwo days after being kicked off the Seton Hall basketball team for making an incendiary remark about his now-deposed coach, junior forward Robert Mitchell was arrested in Newark on charges of kidnapping and robbery, authorities said Wednesday.
The arrest is the latest blow to the university’s image and its basketball program after a tumultuous season that culminated with the firing of head coach Bobby Gonzalez Wednesday, the day after the Pirates were eliminated in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The news from Seton Hall also capped a chaotic day for Division I basketball in the state. In New Brunswick, Rutgers University announced its head basketball coach, Fred Hill, whose job was rumored to be in jeopardy, would coach the Scarlet Knights for a fifth season.
Mitchell, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y., entered a home on Irvington Avenue in South Orange, not far from the Seton Hall campus, Monday evening and pointed a gun at eight people, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. He then forced them into one area of the house where he demanded they surrender their money and personal items, the prosecutor’s office said.
The occupants handed over credit cards, cell phones, debit cards, drivers licenses, digital cameras and about $300 in cash before Mitchell fled, authorities said.
Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said there is nothing to indicate the occupants were Seton Hall students.
Mitchell, who fled the scene in a vehicle, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Newark after South Orange police spotted him at South Orange and Poe avenues, just blocks from the South Orange border, authorities said. The vehicle was also recovered but police did not say if a weapon was found.
Mitchell has been charged with kidnapping, robbery, burglary and weapons offenses. The kidnapping charge was filed because Mitchell allegedly moved the occupants from one room to another, said Anthony Ambrose, chief of detectives for the prosecutor’s office. If convicted on the kidnapping charge, he could face 10 to 20 years in prison.
Bail was set at $650,000, and Mitchell was scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Superior Court in Newark. He is being held at the Essex County Jail.
On Sunday, Seton Hall announced that Mitchell had been "removed from the team" and would not play in the NIT. A week earlier, he gave a less than flattering review of Gonzalez during an interview with the Record.
"It’s hard to stay consistent as a player when the coach isn’t consistent," Mitchell told the newspaper.
After learning of Mitchell’s arrest, Joe Quinlan, director of athletics and recreational services at Seton Hall, said, "We’re very shocked and saddened by these developments."
Quinlan, citing federal student privacy laws, declined to discuss the specifics of Mitchell’s case. He also declined to say whether Mitchell was still a student on the South Orange campus.
However, university officials said students who are accused of serious crimes must go through a campus disciplinary process that includes hearings and the possibility of punishment, including expulsion.
Mitchell, whose name has been removed from the school’s basketball website, is the second Pirate to face criminal charges this season. Keon Lawrence, a 22-year-old transfer who was a standout at Weequahic High School in Newark and the University of Missouri, was charged with assault-by-auto earlier this year in connection with a wrong-way crash on the Garden State Parkway that injured a 56-year-old Newark man in November.
Tuesday’s arrest marks the end of an otherwise successful college career for Mitchell, who transferred from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 2007, where he was named Rookie of the Year in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Mitchell, nicknamed "Stix" for his thin frame — he stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 180 pounds — was scheduled to graduate in May.
Staff writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.
Alexi Friedman may be reached at (973) 642-0341 or afriedman@starledger.com; James Queally at jqueally@starledger.com or (973) 392-1673
