Police arrest 3 teenage girls on Felony charges after Adelphi dorm attack

In a rare incident of campus violence, Garden City Police arrested three teenagers Thursday morning after they received a frantic 911 call about a female coed who was attacked inside her Adelphi University campus dorm and robbed.

Campus entrance, Adelphi University, Garden City, Long Island, New York, USA.Photo byC.J. Teevan

Police say Emily De Frank, Vanessa Powell, and Tianna Elliott – all 18 years old, according to police – allegedly went to the room of a female student in the Waldo Hall dormitory on Wednesday afternoon, March 13, 2024, and knocked on the door. Police say the student had engaged in a heated argument via cellphone texts earlier that day. When the female victim opened it, police say, she held a can of Mace.

Pow!

According to Garden City Police, defendant Vanessa Powell stood in the door and punched the young woman in the face.

Emily De Frank, standing next to her, allegedly cracked a bottle of soda over the victim's head and began to punch her, say police.

It wasn't over.

According to police in sworn court filings: “The victim was pushed into the dorm room where Defendant Emily DeFrank continued to punch the victim and pull her hair."

Waldo Hall, taken earlier this month.Photo byC.J. Teevan

The statement goes on to say: “The victim was pushed into a fridge [sic] in the room causing items to fall.”

Next, say police, “Defendant Tianna Elliott now began to punch and strike the victim in [the] head and back.”

Police added that “the victim’s three gold chains were ripped from her neck.”

The subject of the argument that precipitated the alleged campus clash was not disclosed.

Police say that after the three visitors left, the victim found her gold cross from one of her gold chains down the hall of her dorm.

Depositions from the victim and a witness who saw the altercation led to the arrest of the three accused thugs. Garden City Police Officer Michael Hertling photographed the victim’s injuries and submitted them along with pictures of the Adelphi campus crime scene to the Nassau County Asst. DA to make them available to Judge Marie McCormack for review the next day when she determines what, if any, bail should be set for the arrested teens.

Family and friends of the arrested teens swarmed into the Nassau County courtroom to watch them be arraigned on criminal charges: Burglary under New York Penal Law 140.30 02, Aided Robbery under PL 160.30 01 -- both Felonies -- and Assault under PL 120, a Misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of 1 year.

After establishing eligibility for public defenders, the Judge assigned lawyer Karen Johnston to handle Tianna Elliot's defense and Cheryl Bartow to defend Vanessa Powell. DeFrank will retain her own attorney.

They pleaded Not Guilty.

Judge McCormack set bail for them: $20,000 bail bond for De Frank and Vanessa Powell; $5,000 for Tianna Elliott. They were bailed out hours later and released.

Next court date in this campus drama is March 18, 2024, in Mineola's West Wing Courthouse.

Adelphi, a private college with a $28,993 annual tuition bill after financial aid, takes pride in its safety record. Administrators point to the Garden City campus as one of the safest in the country. But even there, there have been incidents. Foreign student Fahad Khan was arrested in 2021 after he was caught photographing a female student in the shower with a secret hidden camera: Adelphi Student Recorded Woman In Bathroom: Police.

Khan ultimately pled guilty to that charge in return for a lenient sentence and was banished from the Adelphi campus pursuant to an order of protection. His current whereabouts remain unknown.

Sign, Adelphi University, announcing the campus's "Top 5 School for Campus Safety Nationwide" ranking.Photo byC.J. Teevan