COVINGTON, Ga. - The Covington Police Department arrested four suspects connected to the Wells Fargo kidnapping and armed robbery that occurred Sept. 23.
Nicholas Schafer, 18, of Porterdale, De'andre Smith, 18, of Covington, Ikaria Washington, 23, of Covington, and an unidentified juvenile were arrested after CPD received an anonymous tip online Sept. 26.
The online tip was received after the CPD released the Wells Fargo ATM surveillance video via Facebook Sept. 24.
"The online tip said that the male possibly lived on Washington Street or in Porterdale," according to the CPD press release. "Through our investigation, we were able to determine the subject's last name. Upon identifying him, it was discovered that he was a juvenile."
The identification of the juvenile helped the CPD identify and arrest the other two males and female involved in the incident.
Schafer and Smith were charged with armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault.
Washington was charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The juvenile will be charged as an adult with armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault.
The Sept. 23 incident occurred when the male victim met with a female that he had spoken with on a dating app.
When the victim arrived at the location to meet the female, "several males came from behind the residence and got into his car with a gun," according to the report. The males demanded money from the victim, but he told them he would have to get money from the ATM.
"The males forced the victim into the back of his own car, and they drove him to Wells Fargo in Covington," according to the release. "One of them males took the victim's debit card from him and withdrew money from his account."
The victim attempted to take the gun from one of the males, and during the attempt, a shot was fired, according to the release.
No injuries were reported.
"There's a lot of dating apps out there right now," CPD Capt. Ken Malcom said. "We encourage people to be extremely careful when using these. If you are going to engage in this activity, you need to meet in a neutral location so other people can see you with them."
