Northwood University to Ramp Up Security Following Incident

A student at Northwood University was the victim of a carjacking on January 28, Broward criminal lawyer William Moore has learned. According to the Fort Lauderdale Post, the campus intends to supplement nighttime security with an additional campus officer. No one was hurt in the encounter and the campus security force determined that the carjacking was not severe enough to warrant activation of the emergency notification system. Broward criminal defense attorney Moore is a proponent of campus safety.

On the evening of January 28, Northwood University security officials “ran off” a group of young men who were at the school to play pool, but were apparently causing trouble. The men were not students at the school. Later, 20-year-old Sean Goudreau of Fort Lauderdale Gardens was walking across campus to his motorcycle. Goudreau described two young men in black hoods approaching him at about 8:30 p.m., one demanding Goudreau’s motorcycle and driving off on it. The other fled. The man who took the motorcycle did so at gunpoint, showing Goudreau his weapon prior to taking the bike.

The whole event happened too quickly for Goudreau to observe enough information to identify his assailants. Goudreau was alarmed by the entire event, saying, “I’ve never really seen a handgun before.”

Less than a day later, the motorcycle was left at the scene by its driver following a wreck with a car. The motorcycle collided with a vehicle at an intersection and its driver fled. Police investigating the accident determined that the motorcycle had been reported as stolen about 24 hours prior to the accident and noted the parking violation sticker attached to the bike. The sticker was from earlier that day at about 4:00 p.m. and was issued by a local apartment complex.

Law enforcement officers went to the complex to gather more information. While standing in the parking lot, they were approached voluntarily by a young man who told them he was the second hooded “assailant,” but that he was actually a bystander. The young man identified the real carjacker as his friend, 20-year-old Diranso Antonio Cates. According to the friend, Cates suddenly demanded that the driver of the vehicle they were traveling stop. Cates jumped out and confronted Goudreau. The friend had followed him out, but was stunned and returned to the vehicle.

Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer William Moore believes cases like this illustrate the need for criminal defense attorneys. If the young man had not approached police due to his fear of being pegged for a crime he did not actually commit, he could very well have been arrested. Goudreau quite reasonably took the second man to be in on the crime and he might have been charged as an accomplice to the armed carjacking.

Northwood University is located on N. Military Trail in Broward:

Fort Lauderdale criminal lawyer William Moore has experience in all kinds of criminal defense, including sex crimes. A conviction for a felony or misdemeanor can have consequences on your freedom, your employment, and your personal life. If you have been charged with a crime in Florida, contact William Moore, P.A., which is an experienced Fort Lauderdale criminal law firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale-Dade, Broward, and Fort Lauderdale Counties.

This article should be used for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice nor as implied representation of any person.