CLEVELAND – A warning to parents to monitor their child’s social media after two young girls were lured through Instagram to a place where they were robbed at gunpoint.
Jontrell Crockett, 18, of Cleveland stood before a judge Monday.
Crockett was sentenced to a year in prison for the armed robbery of two teenage girls in September 2015.
“They’re not from Kinsman, they had no idea what was going on. They’re from Independence, surburbia,” said Amanda Hall, prosecutor.
Prosecutors say Crockett and others used Instagram to lure the girls to the area of East 153rd and Kinsman Road in Cleveland.
The girls were then robbed at gunpoint.
Prosecutors say Crockett drove away in the girls’ car they’d had for only a week.
“These two young ladies, they use social media. They thought they were meeting somebody who would be reliable, they were going to go have some fun. And they ended having a gun held to their heads,” said Hall.
Coaches at Glenville High School in Cleveland say Crockett was once a standout athlete and played offensive tackle for the football team in 2014-2015.
In fact, he was awarded a NCAA Division I athletic scholarship to play football at Grand Valley State University.
His name was no longer on the roster, Monday.
Meantime, prosecutors are looking for two other people who were involved in the robbery.
“Those two are the ones who planned the robbery, one of them was the gunmen. Mr. Crockett did not have a gun, the other two individuals did. And there are warrants out for their arrest,” added Hall
Crockett is currently being held in the county jail.