New details emerge in alleged violent armed robbery case

Two men accused of a violent armed robbery in June allegedly stole hallucinogenic drugs and electronics while two children slept, according to court records.

Deshane Keonte Rayton, 21, and Alex Caprice Sanders, 19, are currently being held on $200,000 bond in the Douglas County Jail, both on charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and possession of a gun by a convicted felon.

Early in the morning of June 30, police responded to a woman’s apartment in the 2400 block of Alabama Street for a report of a robbery, according to the arrest affidavits for Rayton and Sanders.

The affidavits state that the woman told police she heard knocks on her front door and kitchen window shortly before 1 a.m. Initially she found nobody outside, but when she returned to lock her front door both Rayton and Sanders allegedly forced their way inside.

As the two men entered the apartment, Rayton held the woman at gunpoint and hit her in the head with the weapon, forcing her to the floor, she said. Sanders then held her on the floor at gunpoint and took her cellphone, throwing it across the room, she said, as Rayton searched her bedroom.

During the entire incident the woman’s children — one 7 months old, the other 3 years old — were in the apartment and sleeping, she said.

Rayton soon returned and began to choke the woman while repeatedly asking, “Where is it at?” she said. The two men then took her into her bedroom, where she gave them a key to her safe.

Once her safe was open, Rayton and Sanders took the contents, forced the woman into her bathroom and left the apartment, she said.

After the incident she was left with a bruise on her neck and swelling and a cut on her head, the affidavits state. Her children were not injured.

Initially, the woman told police Rayton and Sanders stole a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, around $1,700 worth of electronics and a black duffel bag worth $20, the affidavits state.

In a follow-up interview, however, the woman reportedly admitted to lying to police and said Rayton and Sanders also stole a bottle of liquid Phencyclidine, or PCP, worth about $400. They also stole an unopened package of More brand cigarettes, which are commonly soaked in the drug and sold, the affidavits state.

The woman told police she recognized Sanders as someone she had seen on Facebook, according to the affidavits, and later she recognized Rayton in a photographic lineup.

Sanders was arrested in Topeka on Dec. 3, and Rayton had already been in the Douglas County Jail for the past five months on charges related to a failure to comply with court orders.

Sanders is scheduled in court for a preliminary hearing at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 19. Rayton is scheduled for a status conference at 9 a.m. April 1.