Fingerprint, text messages link Rutgers football players to home invasions, prosecutor says

 

A fingerprint found on a cellphone stolen from a home-invasion robbery victim – along with text messages and "trophy" photos – helped investigators link two Rutgers football players to a series of violent crimes, a prosecutor said Wednesday. 

Andre Boggs, 20, and Tejay Johnson, 23, are charged with armed robbery in the months-long spree. Jianan Chen, 19, of New Brunswick, is also charged with armed robbery for allegedly helping Boggs and Johnson find people they could rob, prosecutors allege.

  Former Rutgers football player, Andre Boggs, appears in court on home invasions charges. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

 

The three entered not guilty pleas through their attorneys in separate court appearances in New Brunswick Superior Court on Wednesday. They are being held in the Middlesex County jail on high bail amounts, which Judge Dennis Nieves refused to lower.
Boggs grinned for news photographers as they snapped his picture and took video of him as he sat in the jury box while his attorney spoke. Chen appeared in court with a bandage on the right side of his neck. Attorneys would not comment about the injury.

Prosecutors said Boggs and Johnson wore ski masks and broke into homes carrying knives and hammers. Often, they stole hundreds of dollars in cash and drugs.
When Chen was arrested, he was in possession of $35,000 cash and 92 grams of marijuana, according to prosecutors.
During a home invasion in Piscataway, "there happened to be someone a little bit bigger than them on the other side of the door," said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Kuberiet.