Coatesville student among 5 Rutgers football players charged by county prosecutor

Four Rutgers University football players were charged Thursday in connection with an allegedly unprovoked assault, during which a 19-year-old man's jaw was broken.

Another player, cornerback Andre Boggs of Coatesville, was also charged in several home invasions and armed robberies of fellow students, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutor Andrew Carey and Anthony Caputo, director of the New Brunswick Police Department, announced the charges against Boggs, cornerback Ruhann Peele, defensive tackle Razohnn Gross, safety Delon Stephenson, and cornerback Nadir Barnwell.

Rutgers athletic director Julie Hermann said in a statement that the involved students were suspended from the program.

"We continue to monitor the situation," she said. "We will have no further comment as this is a pending legal matter."

The news comes as Rutgers continues its investigation into whether head coach Kyle Flood violated school or NCAA rules by contacting a professor about Barnwell's grades. Flood has said he will be coaching in the team's opener against Norfolk State on Saturday despite the investigation.

Boggs allegedly was involved in home invasions of Rutgers students who were targeted for their drugs and cash, according to the prosecutor's office. Police were first called to a home invasion near campus on April 26, the night after the assault. Boggs and two other masked men, including former student Tejay Johnson, 22, of Egg Harbor, allegedly forced their way into the home and, at gunpoint, stole cash and marijuana from five students. The next day, armed with a bat and knife, Boggs and Johnson allegedly forced their way into another New Brunswick home and robbed a student of marijuana and $900.

Less than a month later, on May 5, Boggs and Johnson allegedly entered a student's dorm room at Livingston College in Piscataway, but they fled when the occupants put up a fight.

Both men face charges of robbery, burglary while armed, conspiracy to commit an armed robbery, and attempted burglary.

The other four players were charged with aggravated assault, riot, and conspiracy to commit a riot stemming from the April 25 assault.

Former student Daryl Stephenson, Delon Stephenson's brother, was also charged in the assault and remains at large.