Former Oakland Mills Student Pleads Guilty for Role in Cab Robbery

A former Oakland Mills High School student pleaded guilty in Howard County Circuit Court Thursday morning for his role in an armed robbery of a Columbia taxi driver.

Khalid Khahiem Woods, 19 pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit armed assault.

Prosecutors said Woods planned the attack on the cab driver in which he and three other Oakland Mills students— Woody Rousseau, 17, Jonham Perez-Rivera, 16, and Chellby Ofosusafori, 17—participated in. Police charged all four men with attempted murder after their arrest.

In reading the statement of facts in the case, prosecutor Mary Murphy said Woods called the cab around 10:45 p.m. on March 1 and once it arrived he sat in the front seat. When the cab pulled onto Sewells Orchard Drive in Oakland Mills, Perez-Rivera used a karate belt to choke the cab driver, according to police. At that time, Woods pulled out an airsoft pistol and told the cab driver, “I’m going to kill you,” according to the statement of facts.

The cab driver, fearing for his life, put his foot down on the gas pedal and struck a nearby tree, setting off the airbags in the vehicle, according to Murphy. That’s when the cabbie escaped the vehicle, ran to a nearby house and called police. According to Murphy, the cab driver suffered minor injuries to his face, arms and legs from the crash and the airbags.

Through an investigation that included cell phone and Facebook records, police were able to track down the four teens involved. The three other teens are currently awaiting trial, according to Murphy.

Woods is scheduled to be sentenced in November.