The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia will not file any charges against Jared R. Islas, the man who had been accused of attempting to rob an AU student in a residence hall elevator earlier this month.
The office had not "papered" the case against Islas - meaning it was not going to file any charges - and no attorney had been assigned to the case. Office records indicated the case was closed Sept. 17, according to Monica Veney, a public relations assistant in the U.S. Attorney's office.
An unidentified person in the office told an Eagle reporter that an official would call the reporter back to give official confirmation about the status of the case against Islas when The Eagle was reporting on the incident Sept. 19. The reporter received no further response from the office prior to the article's publication.
AU Public Safety officers arrested Islas Sept. 15 after a freshman identified Islas as the person who attempted to rob him in an elevator car in Leonard Hall. The freshman claimed at the time that Islas had demanded his wallet and threatened to use force on the freshman if he did not comply. The freshman claimed the attempt was not successful and that Islas had not used any weapons in the incident. Islas was a guest of another Leonard Hall resident on the day of the incident, The Eagle previously reported.
Islas was then transferred from Public Safety to Metropolitan Police Department custody. MPD officers transported Islas to the Fourth District station on Georgia Avenue N.W. on the same day. The university barred Islas from coming back onto campus following his arrest, The Eagle previously reported.
Sgt. Dale Booth, a Public Safety officer who previously spoke to The Eagle about the case, was unavailable for comment.
A person claiming to be Islas posted a comment on a previous Eagle article online at 12:23 a.m. Tuesday concerning the case.
The comment read: "FOR THE RECORD THE CHARGES WERE DROPPED BECAUSE THE CHARGES WERE FALSE [sic]."
An Eagle reporter sent an e-mail to an address connected to the comment on Wednesday evening but received no reply as of Friday evening. The Eagle was not able to find any other contact information for Islas as of Friday evening.
