A stripper has been accused of robbing two men of $17,000 worth of goods by setting them up to be ambushed by her armed accomplices while they were in a hot tub at their Connecticut home.
Maryelizabeth Bradford, who was 25 at the time of the incident, was arrested on home invasion charges in November 2022. Bradford worked as a stripper in New York who followed the victims to their residence.
Her two alleged accomplices, Branden Holloway, 25, and Joshua Jenkins, 31, both of Hartford, were arrested last week.
Police said the alleged victims were found naked and bloody in a neighbor’s driveway in the earlier hours of September 12, 2022. The men asked their neighbor to dial 911, alleging they had been robbed of clothes, jewelry and cologne.
They appeared bruised and swollen, and one man had ‘blood running down his face,’ according to a police report obtained by CT Insider.
Stripper Maryelizabeth Bradford is accused of setting up an ambush against two men at their Farmington home where they were robbed of $17,000 worth of goods
Joshua Jenkins (left), 31, and Branden Holloway (right), 25, both of Hartford, Connecticut, were charged as an accomplices
The men had met Bradford, going by the name ‘Lola’ in Hartford, before she followed them back to one of their homes in an affluent part of Farmington, according to the warrant.
One of the men knew her as an exotic dancer at Starlets in Queens, N.Y. and had met her a few years prior at a different strip club.
Bradford connected with him on Instagram and sent a message asking him to hang out at his place, according to the warrant.
Once there, the men jumped into the hot tub, but Bradford appeared distracted and fixated on her phone, the report said.
Suddenly, two masked men brandishing guns leapt out of the bushes telling them it was a robbery, the report stated.
They claimed ‘ringleader’ Bradford began dishing out orders, instructing the men where to search for various goods while being held at gunpoint.
The intruders stripped the men of their clothes, dragged them to the second floor, shoved pillowcases over their heads and ‘repeatedly asked them about cash and jewelry while they went through the residence and pistol-whipped and beat them,’ the warrant said.
The men told police Bradford worked as an exotic dancer at Starlets strip club in Queens, New York according to a warrant
One of the victims said he first met Bradford at Lit Ultra Lounge in Waterbury, Connecticut, a few years prior. The exotic dancer then messaged him on Instagram asking to hang out at his home, according to the arrest warrant. Pictured: the location of Lit Ultra Lounge
The men threatened to shoot the men if they did not give up their valuables and even tried to unlock one of the victims’ online banking apps to unsuccessfully transfer money.
Their ordeal only came to an end when one of the men was able to break free and got a razor to cut loose his friend. The two then jumped from a second story balcony and ran to their neighbor for help, according to the warrant.
Upon her arrest, Bradford confirmed much of the victims’ account but downplayed her involvement, police said.
She told cops she was ‘afraid that I was going to witness a murder’ and that the two victims had ‘every reason to fear for their lives,’ according to the warrant.
Bradford first met one of the men in Lit Ultra Lounge in Waterbury. She had Facetimed with them before agreeing to go to the home.
At the time of the video call she thought one of the men was wearing a $30,000 chain and believed both to be wealthy, police said. The necklace was reportedly not located during the home invasion.
Bradford was charged with home invasion, robbery, assault, unlawful restraint and larceny charges.
Holloway and Jenkins were charged with home invasion, first-degree robbery and second-degree assault. It’s unclear why it took a year to arrest the two accomplices.
They also are charged with criminal attempt to commit first-degree sexual assault, although the allegation was not present on Holloway’s warrant, CT Insider reports.