Former WMU football player to stand trial for robbery, home invasion

By Madison Bennett | MLive

KALAMAZOO, MI - A former Western Michigan University football player charged with armed robbery was ordered to stand trial after his alleged victim testified Tuesday.

Kalamazoo County District Court Judge Tiffany A. Ankley found probable cause to bind over the case against Bryson White, 18, to circuit court for trial after hearing testimony from Madison Rench testified during continuation of White's preliminary examination.

White, 18, and co-defendant Ronald George, 19, had waved their preliminary examinations in the fall and were bound over for trial, but White's case was remanded to district court.

Both men, ex-WMU football players dismissed from the team after their arrests, face felony charges of armed robbery, first-degree home invasion and larceny in connection with the Aug. 26, 2016 incident in Kalamazoo. Armed robbery, the most serious of the charges, carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

Rench was originally expected to testify on Feb. 7 but hearing was delayed to Feb. 28 to give her adequate time to consult with her attorneys.

She faces a felony charge of delivery or manufacture of marijuana, which came about after she reported the robbery and home invasion. The marijuana charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

Rench testified Tuesday that White had texted her pretending to be a female she had met previously at a party and that the two planned to smoke marijuana at Rench's apartment on Aug. 26, 2016, the day of the incident.

White, posing as the female, then texted again and said she and a friend had arrived at Rench's apartment, she testified.

Rench said she was with her boyfriend when she heard a knock on the door. She went to look out the peephole, but couldn't see anything, so she unlocked the door and opened it about an inch.

She testified that George and White then forced their way in and used "aggressive" words, yelling while threatening her with weapons. Her boyfriend, who had been in a bedroom, hid in a closet, she said.

"The shorter one (White) pulled a knife out of his pocket and told me he was going to slit my throat if I didn't be quiet," Rench testified.

She said she saw the men take money from a bank envelope filled with tips she had made earlier in the day working as a waitress but did not see them take anything else. After George and White, Rench testified, she discovered that marijuana and a speaker were missing.

Rench said George had told her to search for more things and asked her to go to the bedroom. After finding nothing, he had her relocate to the bathroom, where she was threatened again, she testified.

"He (George) put the gun to the back of my head and shoved me up against the wall. That's when I knew it was a real gun because the metal was cold," Rench said.

"And he told me to take off my clothes or he was going to blow my brains out."

Rench said she refused to disrobe and that White yelled from the living room to George that "he had found something else and to leave it alone."

Rench said George left the bathroom and she locked the door and hid in a closet, where she remained there until she heard her boyfriend call out for her and she called police.

Rench testified that she knew White from Twitter because he had followed her prior to the incident and contacted her through the social media site. She said she had never met White in person prior to the robbery and had only communicated with him briefly via Twitter. 

This post originally appeared Feb. 28, 2017 on MLive.com.