Kathleen Hopkins

@Khopkinsapp

FREEHOLD - Suspended Monmouth University football player Keith Williams started crying in court Thursday when he appeared before a judge to face a charge in an attempted holdup that forced the West Long Branch campus into a lockdown earlier this week.

Williams, 18, of Baltimore is charged with one count of armed robbery.

Dressed in a dark green jail uniform, the tall, well-built defendant started crying toward the end of his brief appearance before Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman. The judge kept Williams' bail at $100,000 and ordered that he not return to the scene of the crime.

Meghan Doyle, an assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, argued to keep the bail at that amount, saying that Williams has no ties to New Jersey.

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"He was attending Monmouth University to play football," Doyle said. "He's not allowed to go back there."

University officials have alleged that Williams attempted to rob two female students on the campus in West Long Branch about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Doyle alleged that Williams threatened the victims with a fake gun and demanded their cellphones.

The two students refused and instead fled south with their phones to Samuel Magill Hays Hall, while the would-be bandit ran north, university officials have said.

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The campus was placed on lockdown until almost 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, when authorities announced they had made an arrest.

Williams was arrested in a dormitory, and it turned out the gun he is alleged to have used was fake, authorities said.

Williams is being held at the Monmouth County Jail.

Greg Viscomi, a spokesman for the university's football team, said Williams was immediately suspended from the team.