photo by: Journal-World File Photo

In this file photo from Aug. 4, 2020, a Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured outside the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

Three men have been charged with aggravated robbery after allegedly stealing a backpack at knifepoint on Thursday morning.

Lawrence Police Lt. David Ernst said that on Thursday morning, a man sleeping in his car in the 3000 block of West Sixth Street was woken up by three men with knives. The suspects reportedly stole the man’s backpack and drove away, Ernst said.

Ernst said officers interviewed the man at around 5 a.m. and he described the men who allegedly robbed him and the vehicle they were driving. Police later identified and stopped the vehicle near the intersection of Ninth and Kentucky streets, where they questioned the people inside and arrested them.

The three men who were arrested are James Middleton Bingman, 39, of Lawrence; Andrew James Suraud, 38, of Overland Park; and Charles Raymond Holland, 28, of Kansas City, Missouri.

All three men were formally charged with aggravated robbery, a level-three person felony, in Douglas County District Court on Friday. Holland was also charged with possession of methamphetamine, a level-five drug felony. The men are currently in Douglas County Jail custody and have bonds set at $25,000 each.

A conviction of aggravated robbery could result in a sentence of up to 100 months in prison, according to Kansas sentencing guidelines.