Robel Phillipos, a 19-year old Cambridge, Massachusetts resident, was charged with lying to federal agents in connection with an investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings.
Phillipos, who was reportedly a classmate of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at UMass Dartmouth, allegedly admitted to joining with Tsarnaev’s friends, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, in removing Tsarnaev’s backpack from Tsarnaev’s dormitory room on the night of April 18, according to the criminal complaint against Phillipos.
The complaint alleges that Phillipos made “materially false statements to federal investigators in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the United States, to wit, a terrorism investigation.”
Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov have also been arrested for allegedly lying to authorities and conspiring to obstruct justice.
A young man who identified himself as “Robel Phillipos,” posted a video to Youtube on March 16, 2012 with his Youtube account name “Robel Phillipos.”
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“Hi, my name is Robel Phillipos and this is my webcam thing on Earle Perry Charlton,” Phillipos said in the video.
“I kind of grew up the same way [Charlton] did. I grew up in a very mild mannered, you know, way of living. Wasn’t too poor. Wasn’t too rich. I was, you know, average guy. But I’ve experienced so much. Like, you know, going to Africa,” Phillipos said in the video.
A photo published by Wicked Local Cambridge in 2009 shows what appears to be the same individual at around 15 years old. Robel Phillipos is listed as being in the photo.
The Charlton College of Business at UMass Dartmouth launched a course for first-year business students in 2006 based on the life of Earle P. Charlton (1863-1930), a founder of the F.W. Woolworth Company whose descendants provided funding for the Charlton College of Business, which opened in 2004.
“Freshmen in the College of Business gain inspiration from the biography of the late Earle P. Charlton, pioneering Fall River entrepreneur,” according to the website for UMass Dartmouth’s Charlton College of Business.
“Professor Steven White and Lecturer Godwin Ariguzo co-created the course, which focuses on familiarizing students with the late Earle P. Charlton, a pioneering Fall River entrepreneur who opened a chain of 53 retail department stores that would become part of the Woolworths brand during the early-20th century,” according to the Charlton College of Business.
“As part of the course, students read the Charlton biography and compete in a business plan competition that will be judged by faculty members and Charlton’s grandson, Earle P. “Chuck” Charlton II. Funding for the course is provided by the Charlton Family Trusts, which has made several gifts to the university including $3 million to the Charlton College’s building, which opened in 2004,” according to the Charlton College of Business.
“The course, via the real world Charlton story and hands on business plan exercise, is designed to immediately immerse first-year students in the excitement of the business world….Prizes of $250, $100, and $50 will be awarded in May to the winners of the business plan competition,” according to the Charlton College of Business.
UMass Dartmouth did not return requests for comment.