The district attorney’s office in El Paso County, Colorado dropped its three felony charges against Ahmir Braxton ’25. Braxton, who has since returned to campus, was previously charged in connection to a February 2023 armed robbery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Following Braxton’s arrest, a College spokesperson previously stated Braxton was no longer enrolled with Dartmouth College, according to The Valley News. Now, as of Monday, Sept. 25, College media relations strategist Jana Barnello confirmed that Braxton is officially enrolled for the fall term. Braxton did not respond to a request for comment.
The charges stem from a Feb. 24 incident, in which Braxton and two other suspects were accused of robbing an Ent Credit Union ATM while it was being restocked. During the incident, the trio allegedly held Loomis Armored Truck company employee Anthony Tarantino at gunpoint.
In an affidavit submitted by El Paso County robbery unit detective Grant Nelson, who could not be reached for comment, Tarantino stated that one of the suspects told him to put his hands in the air while a gun was held to his back.
Although Tarantino stated he could not identify the suspect directly, he was able to conclude by their voice that the suspect was male. Tarantino further described the suspect’s clothing and the appearance of a weapon to law enforcement.
In addition, Tarantino recalled the suspects taking “bricks” of money, which he estimated to hold approximately $20,000 per brick. The suspects were also able to remove the Glock 17 pistol that Tarantino wore on his person before fleeing the scene, leaving a trail of money behind them.
On video surveillance sourced from a nearby Mexican restaurant, a suspect believed to be Braxton and the other two suspects were seen fleeing in a gray Dodge Charger registered to Braxton. The suspects subsequently changed vehicles to a white Mazda, to which Braxton is also listed as a secondary user. The Dodge was reportedly found an hour after the robbery occurred with $5,270 inside of it.
According to arrest records from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Braxton was charged with stealing between $100,000 to $1,000,000 and aggravated robbery — both of which are class three felonies — and menacing, a class five felony.
Though El Paso County district attorney Michael Allen could not be reached for comment by time of publication, arrest records show that each of Braxton’s charges, including a sentence enhancement for a violent public order crime with a weapon, were dropped by his office.
In the state of Colorado, class three felonies are punishable by four to 12 years in prison and fines between $3,000 to $750,000. The public order charge would have imposed an additional, consecutive five-year sentence if Braxton had been convicted.
On May 19, Braxton was arrested in Lebanon, New Hampshire on a fugitive justice charge. Braxton was then held in Grafton County Jail without bail before his extradition to El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs, where his bail was set at $150,000. Braxton was scheduled to appear before a judge in Colorado on June 8; he eventually posted bail and was released thereafter.
It is estimated the suspects stole $158,000 in the course of the robbery. However, the affidavit cites that the exact amount of money stolen was not definitively determined at the time of the arrest.
In addition, the Colorado Springs Police Department conducted a month-long investigation into Braxton. Those efforts led to the recovery of suggestive evidence against Braxton, which law enforcement officials used to obtain a warrant for his arrest.
Through their investigation, police were able to determine that Braxton’s phone could be geolocated to a cell service tower within the radius of coverage for the crime scene. Additionally, investigators found Facebook direct messages that Braxton had sent to another user in which he can be seen holding what appears to be a large stack of cash. On Braxton’s Snapchat account, investigators also found an image of Braxton holding gloves that appear identical to those worn by one of the suspects on recovered surveillance footage.
At this time, it remains unclear whether or not the other two suspects in the case have also had their charges dropped and their legal records sealed, or how their cases have proceeded in the Colorado judicial system.
