Carlos Bernard Robinson
Law enforcement responded to a Thursday robbery report on River Run Drive near the lake. While on the way there, police said they were told the complainant’s husband was threatened and robbed by two suspects. Dispatch told police the suspects had come to the home in a truck and were armed.
Police were told the suspects wanted $1,000 from the victims in exchange for their stolen phones. Dispatch said one of the suspects went by “Rambo,” and the other suspect was named Bernard, and that the complainant’s husband knew both suspects involved.
By the time police arrived, they were told the victims had locked themselves on the third floor of the house, while the suspects were still in the basement. Police said they observed a white truck and then saw two men standing outside the doorway.
Police said they ordered the men to show their hands to the police, and they heard the suspects say “alright sir” before running back through the door and into the residence. As an officer was calling for more help, he saw one of the suspects run back outside through a back door. When police pointed flashlight at him, the suspect ran back inside through that back door.
But as this was happening, another person ran out of the back door, followed the deputy’s commands, and was detained. He told police he was a victim. Police also saw another man jump out of a second-story window and run across the yard. Police said they deployed a taser when the man refused to stop and show his hands. This man was taken into custody.
A short while later, still another person exited the front door, complied with police commands, and was detained. Then a woman and three children exited the residence. When additional units arrived, they cleared the house and found no one else inside.
Police then needed to figure out who the victims were and who the suspects were. The first person to be detained said the two other men took his cell phones and demanded $1,000. He said he went back upstairs to his wife, and she moved herself and her children to a secure location upstairs.
The wife said her husband told her his former employee Carlos Bernard Robinson, 37, and Robinson’s cousin needed to run by the residence. The woman told police her husband left with the two men because she was not comfortable with them being around the house. A while later, she told police she received a text saying “meet me at the MPCO gas station” but she said she ignored it and fell back asleep.
She told police she was later awakened by her husband, who told her Robinson had taken his phones, and that Robinson wanted $1,000. She said she called police immediately and took her children up to the third floor.
The woman described what her husband looked like, and then confirmed one of the detained men was her husband. He was immediately released. The husband said one of the suspects took his phones and then pulled a gun out of his hip. The man said the incident occurred at the North Hickory Valley Road Mapco. A search of the residence did not produce a firearm with a black handle.
Robinson declined to speak with police without a lawyer present. The man named “Rambo,” who was the one who jumped out of the window, told police he “got into it” with the husband because of an incident involving the husband and his (Rambo)’s mother.
Police said the suspect told them he threatened to tell the wife about her husband going to a strip club, and that he was angry at the complainant’s husband for “trying to (expletive) his momma.” The suspect said he ran ran away from the house because he saw law enforcement had guns and knew he was in trouble either way. Rambo told police he should have just stayed in the house.
The suspect said his tools were in the truck, but refused to give his name or say who the truck belonged to. Police said they found a small amount of marijuana and scales in the truck.
The husband said after the incident at the Mapco, he was able to convince the suspects into bringing him home. Before that, he told police the two suspects did not want to let him out of the vehicle at the Mapco because they were afraid he would call police. Once he was home, his wife called the police and the preceding events ensued.
Police said Rambo had the husband’s phone when he was tased. He was then transported to the Hamilton County Jail and strip-searched for other narcotics. Police said they found nine grams of marijuana on him during this search.
Both men are facing kidnapping, extortion, aggravated burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia and of a controlled substance. The unidentified man “Rambo” was also charged with resisting stop, halt, and frisk, vandalism (for damaging a gutter and window as he attempted to run) and contraband in a penal institution.