Suspect Arrested in Robberies at CSUN

A man who allegedly used a fake gun to rob three woman at Cal State Northridge and three others on nearby streets over the past week was arrested Tuesday by university police.

“We think this reign of robberies has now come to an end,” said Cal State Northridge Lt. Mike Sugar.

Campus detectives, using information from victims and witnesses, arrested Marstest Brown, 28, at his Reseda home at about 7 a.m., Sugar said.

Brown confessed, Sugar said, and told police where to find the gun he used.

“It turns out it was a cap pistol that looked very much like a gun,” Sugar said.

Police also found a Sony Walkman, a bicycle and other items that were reported stolen during the campus robberies that began on Nov. 19, Sugar said.

In the first report, a man fitting Brown’s description robbed a female student at gunpoint near a woman’s softball field. Another woman later told police a man with a gun fitting the same description had taken a Sony Walkman from her that same day.

A man with a similar description held up a woman in a dormitory lobby, Sugar said.

Los Angeles police reported three similar robberies in neighborhoods around CSUN over the weekend.

After the first two robberies, police urged students, especially women, to walk in groups and avoid poorly lit areas of the school.

Authorities got a break in case when a woman saw Brown follow another woman, who was later robbed, into a dormitory lobby, Sugar said.

The witness told police she had a 10-minute conversation with Brown that night, Sugar said. That information led police to Brown’s home.

“From statements he made to us, it appeared that he may have been looking for money to support a drug habit,” said Sugar.

Brown was arrested on suspicion of robbery and held in lieu of $50,000 bail at Van Nuys jail.