Florida police to TNT: Warrant out for arrest of Seahawks Quinton Dunbar for armed robbery
New Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar is wanted in his native south Florida on multiple charges of armed robbery at a party.
Miramar (Fla.) police department public information officer Tania Rues confirmed to The News Tribune late Thursday afternoon an arrest warrant is out in her city for Dunbar, 27, and for Deandre Baker, a cornerback for the New York Giants. Dunbar and Baker have apparently been friends for years.
“The detectives are speaking with the parties of the athletes...trying to make arrangements to turn themselves in,” Rues told The News Tribune Thursday.
Dunbar is charged with four counts of armed robbery with a firearm from an alleged incident with Baker late Wednesday into early Thursday at a party in Miramar. The city in Broward County is about 20 miles north of where Dunbar grew up and went to high school, Booker T. Washington in Miami’s Overtown area.
Section 812.13 of the 2019 Florida Statutes available online states, in part: “If in the course of committing the robbery the offender carried a firearm or other deadly weapon, then the robbery is a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment or as provided in (other statutory guidelines).”
Florida has a minimum-sentencing law that requires a sentence of at least 10 years in prison for anyone convicted of a felony while using or attempting to use a firearm.
If during the robbery the offender did not carry a weapon, Florida statutes consider that a second-degree felony.
The warrant and statement of probable cause from the Miramar police department is here.
The Seahawks acquired Dunbar in a trade with Washington in March to perhaps become their new starting cornerback. He spoke to Seattle-area media on a Zoom call online from his home in south Florida late Thursday morning, Eastern Time.
In it, Dunbar—who has earned more than $8 million in his five-year NFL career and is due a salary of $3.25 million in 2020—called Seattle “a perfect fit,” multiple times. He talked of how he appreciated the Seahawks for acquiring him.
“You just want to feel wanted, at the end of the day. The guys, they made a trade...for me. That’s good enough,” Dunbar said Thursday.
“Now I just hope to repay them in the way I carry myself as a person and as a player.”
According Miramar police detective Mark Moretti’s application for an arrest warrant filed Thursday, Dunbar allegedly “took money and watches belonging to the victim(s) with force; permanently depriving them of said property. In the course of committing the robbery, Quinton Disheen Dunbar was armed with a semi-automatic firearm.”
A spokesman for the Seahawks told the TNT Thursday evening: “We are aware of the situation involving Quinton Dunbar and (are) still gathering information. We will defer all further comment to league investigators and local authorities.”
Dunbar is being sought for a “no bond hold,” which would mean he would upon apprehension he would remain held until at least until a judge holds an arraignment.
The Miramar police detective’s statement for probable cause states that on early Thursday morning, 20 minutes past midnight, an officer reponded to a reported armed robbery at a party at a residence in the south Florida city that had occurred 45 minute earlier. The arriving officer met with four victims and one witness.
According to the party’s host, whose name is redacted in the warrant, the event began around 8 p.m. Wednesday. The host told police Baker had a gun and began directing two others to take money and valuables from other party-goers. The host said Dunbar was “assisting Baker in taking the money and valuables from the attendees.” The host said an unnamed alleged assailant, wearing a mask, took $800 in cash and an $18,000 Rolex watch, at the direction of Baker.
The host also stated Baker directed the alleged assailant wearing the mask to shoot a person who was just entering the party at that time.
That person said the masked man robbed him of $7,000 cash and a $25,000 Hublot watch. Baker allegedly pointed a gun at the man who was robbed of the Hublot watch. That victim said Baker and two other men were armed with guns but Dunbar was not.
Another alleged victim told police the incident began as an argument over a card game at the party. That victim told police Dunbar “was armed with a firearm and he was pointing it” at a person whose name in redacted on the warrant. That victim said Baker then robbed a person whose name is redacted of $4,000 cash and a watch described as an Audemars Piguet valued at $17,500.
This victim stated he met Dunbar and Baker earlier this week at a different party in Miami, at which Dunbar and Baker “had lost about $70,000.”
There are conflicting reports between multiple victims as to whether Dunbar was carrying and pointing or not carrying a gun during the robberies. A third victim told police Dunbar did not have a gun “but he did see and hear him (Dunbar) directing others to take valuables.”
The witness police interviewed at the party scene was identified as Dominick Johnson, who is described in the warrant as a man known as “Coach” throughout the residence. The warrant states Johnson has known Dunbar and Baker since they were children.
Johnson told police, according to the warrant, he “could not conclusively state that Dunbar committed the offense of aggravated assault with a firearm, however he was still an active participant in the armed robbery aiding and assisting Baker and the other unknown offenders.”
One victim said “those involved in the robbery all left together (at the same time) in three different vehicles. That victim and one other said the cars, a Lambourghini, a BMW and a Mercedes, were “pre-positioned” outside the residence in a way to enable to quick getaway.
Thursday morning, about 11 hours after the alleged robberies, Dunbar was about 30 minutes late joining a scheduled Zoom online interview session with Seattle-area media. During it, he repeatedly called his trade from Washington and new NFL home with the Seahawks “a perfect fit.”
The former University of Florida wide receiver joked on the Zoom call there has really been only one thing that’s gotten to him during these last two months of stay-at-home orders because of the COVID-19 virus. His daughter Denim, almost 3, is “still stuck on Frozen.
“It’s just Frozen,” Dunbar said, laughing. “I don’t know, kids go crazy for Frozen. That’s it.”
Asked if he’s getting sick of Frozen by now, Dunbar laughed again.
“Yeah,” he said, “I am.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 5:03 PM.
