Former Ohio State defensive back Marcus Williamson, who was charged Wednesday with the armed robbery of a Columbus bank, is a suspect in at least eight other similar robberies, according to a detective who testified at a Franklin County Municipal Court on Friday.
According to testimony from Columbus police detective Brad Thomas, the eight robberies — including the April 24 crime — have all occurred since March 7. This has forced police to obtain a warrant to place a GPS tracker on Williamson’s vehicle, and detectives have been following him since his latest crime.
Thomas said that in all nine robberies, Williamson showed or presented a note to the bank teller, which demanded that the teller empty the drawer of all its $20, $50 and $100 bills. He also testified that Williamson implied he was armed for at least one of the currently undocumented crimes, including the Wednesday robbery.
While additional charges will be considered, Williamson, 25, has only been arrested for the Wednesday robbery of First Merchants Bank on Columbus’ High Street at around 10:40 a.m.
Police officers observed Williamson commit the crime and flee the scene from an undisclosed location and arrested him shortly after. Williamson was in possession of an undisclosed amount of cash from the bank at the time of his arrest.
This is not the first time Williamson has gotten in trouble with the law since he ended his playing career in 2021. The former Buckeyes defensive back was also charged in 2022 with aggravated robbery and kidnapping in Memphis after he reportedly forced a woman to withdraw money from an ATM machine at gunpoint. According to Thomas, that charge has since been dismissed and not prosecuted due to concerns about Williamson’s competency.
At the Friday hearing, Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor G.W. Wharton asked for Williamson to be held without bond due to concerns he may commit additional crimes if released, but it was not granted by judge Eileen Paley, who set the former Buckeyes’ bond at $50,000.
Williamson played defensive back for Ohio State from 2017-2021, where he served as a starting safety for his last two seasons with the Buckeyes and totaled 65 tackles (1.5 for loss), four pass deflections and two forced fumbles.
He is perhaps most known for his explosive tweets about former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer during the Buckeyes’ 2022 Rose Bowl win over Utah, which came after he “retired” from football after the 2021 regular season for “self care.”
Williamson tweeted that Meyer once told Williamson that he would “ruin his f— life” if he ever caught him smoking, and showed presented a picture during an introductory freshmen meeting of Trayvon Martin, the former 17-year-old black male who was fatally shot by George Zimmermann in Florida, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement — as a way to institute a “no hoods” rule at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Meyer later admitted that the “no hoods” rule did exist but Martin’s photo was never used, while former Ohio State safety Tyvis Powell said the photo was used but Meyer and the staff later apologized for it.
