A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday morning to robbing two male Kansas University students.

Michael Martin Gerald entered the pleas to two counts of robbery. Gerald originally was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of conspiracy. Prosecutors accused Gerald and co-defendant Brandon James Huggins, 23, a Fort Leavenworth military police officer, of robbing the two men at gunpoint early on June 23 as the students were walking on Memorial Drive.

According to earlier testimony, Gerald, who is not in the military, is a childhood friend of Huggins.

The two students testified at a July preliminary hearing that two men got out of a car, ordered them to the ground and robbed them. Police later stopped a vehicle and interviewed three men inside, Gerald, Huggins and a third man, also a Fort Leavenworth solider. KU Public Safety Officers did not arrest the third man because they did not believe he was involved in the robbery.

Detective Jack Campbell testified that Gerald told police in an interview that he alone robbed the two students because “he was bored.”

Sarah Swain, Huggins’ defense attorney, has said her client asserted to police he was not involved, and Swain has criticized officers for not looking into the possibility the third man matched the victims’ description of the second robber.

District Judge Paula Martin is scheduled to sentence Gerald at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 18.

Huggins has a hearing scheduled for Oct. 13.