KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A Kalamazoo teen has been sentenced to between 21 1/2 years and 45 years in prison Monday on charges of armed robbery and first-degree home invasion in an assault on a 20-year-old Western Michigan University student in her own apartment in October 2021.
Montell Darnell Parker pleaded no contest to the charges after prosecutors agreed to drop a count of first-degree criminal sexual assault.
The victim told police she was alone in her own apartment when three masked men, including Parker, broke into her apartment and raped her at gunpoint.
Cell phone photos taken during a party across the street from the home invasion and assault helped detectives identify Parker and two other teens, who were charged as juveniles, with both pleading guilty to first-degree home invasion.
After the break-in and alleged rape, police say Parker and the two others stole two two vehicles, including the victim’s car. When her car was abandoned later morning, police were able to identify the suspects due to selfies taken on a cell phone left in the victim’s car.
The assault happened in an apartment complex on Michigamme Woods Drive, near Fraternity Village drive around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, October 3, 2021. Parker was 16 at the time of the assault, but was charged as an adult.
