Man charged with robbing elderly Campus Walk resident while squatting in the victim’s apartment

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Cedrick Leroy Powell, 21, has been booked into the Alachua County Jail for allegedly robbing and battering an elderly Campus Walk resident while squatting in the victim’s apartment in February.

At about 4:55 a.m. on February 3, 2026, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to Campus Walk Apartments (914 SW 8th Avenue) and found the 71-year-old victim unconscious in his apartment. He was transported to a hospital, and when he regained consciousness, he reported that he had been robbed.

The victim reportedly said that prior to the incident, he had been hospitalized for about a week, and during that time, four unknown people and a child began squatting in his apartment; the victim said he did not immediately report the squatters because he didn’t want the child to be put out in the cold. He said he took cash out of the bank to pay his rent after he was discharged from the hospital and placed the cash in his wallet.

The victim said he was watching television when one of the squatters, later identified as Powell, came up behind him and placed him in a chokehold. He said his attacker demanded to know where the money was, and after the attacker took the victim’s wallet with about $500 cash, he continued to demand additional money.

The victim said the attacker removed his oxygen, causing him to lose consciousness.

One of the victim’s roommates reportedly witnessed the robbery and said two of the males who had been squatting in the apartment went by “Munchie” and “C2.”

An officer found a record of a 911 call that had been placed from the victim’s apartment while the victim was in the hospital; the phone call was placed by a woman, but the phone was on Cedrick Powell’s account. Further investigation found that the woman was Powell’s sister and that Powell had been released from prison in December 2025. One of Powell’s known aliases is “C2.”

Another witness in the apartment reportedly said the occupants were awakened by a disturbance and entered the living room to find the victim unconscious; this witness knew the attacker as “Ced” and also said “Ced” and the woman were siblings and that “Ced” had recently been released from prison.

Video surveillance at Campus Walk reportedly showed the four adults who squatted in the victim’s apartment while he was in the hospital, and Powell was positively identified in the videos.

Powell has been charged with robbery and battery on a person over 65 years of age. His criminal history was not included with the First Appearance Order that was filed on the court website, but his Walton County criminal history begins in 2022, when he turned 18. Since then, he has been convicted of grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, fleeing, misdemeanor drug charges, and resisting an officer without violence; he served a 17-month prison sentence and was released in December 2025. He was arrested in Walton County in March on the Alachua County warrant from the February incident, but he was also sentenced in April to 16 months in prison with credit for 298 days served for battery on a detainee; with that sentence ending on October 1, he has been transferred to Alachua County to face the February charges.

Judge James Colaw wrote in the arrest warrant that the State Attorney’s Office would be requesting pre-trial detention, but Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $300,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.