NORTHAMPTON — Three men wearing masks who broke into several rooms at a University of Massachusetts dormitory early Sunday pleaded not guilty to charges including armed burglary stemming from the incident.
Damien Earp, Garrett B. Johnston and Kyle Morrill were arraigned Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court. Earp and Johnston are UMass students, and Morrill is a freshman at Framingham State University.
As he waited outside the courtroom with dry tear streaks still visible on his face and his mother, Rhonda Morrill, by his side, Morrill, 18, lightly hit the back of his head repeatedly against the wall while the other men paced back and forth.
Earp, 19, of Lynn, was charged with two counts of armed burglary and single counts of larceny over $250, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Morrill, 18, also of Lynn, was charged with two counts of armed burglary, and single counts of larceny under $250, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Johnston, 20, of Belle Mead, New Jersey, was charged with two counts of armed burglary, and single counts of larceny over $250, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Earp and Morrill were released on $2,000 bail, and Johnston on $5,000 bail, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office. As part of their conditions of release, Earp and Morrill are required to wear a GPS device and abide by a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, and Johnston is required to live with one of his parents in New Jersey, according to the district attorney’s office. All three men must stay off the UMass campus.
According to court records, police responded in the early morning hours Sunday to Washington Hall because a break-in was occurring.
A student peered through his door peephole and watched as three masked people wandered the hallway, trying door knobs to other rooms, according to court records. Moments earlier, the student told police, one of the masked figures peered his head into his room. But the three left and continued to another floor, according to court records.
Moments later, UMass police officer Jason Minich found the three men on the fourth floor of Washington Hall, according to court records, as they left one of the rooms. One of them was brandishing a knife and clutching a pillowcase containing a pair of stolen shoes, according to court records.
That’s when Earp and Johnston began to struggle with Minich and struck him while Morrill fled on foot, police said.
Earp and Johnston were each in possession of knives and were arrested at the scene, according to court records. After Earp and Johnston helped police identify Morrill, investigators then determined Morrill had used his own driver’s license to sign into the building earlier that weekend.
Morrill turned himself in to police after he had returned to his Lynn home and called authorities, according to court records. Earp and Morrill are due back in Eastern Hampshire District Court on June 2.
A date for Johnston had not yet been set Monday afternoon, although it is expected to be the same, according to a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.