A Detroit TikTok star has been arrested for four armed robberies after police identified his personalized Nike sneakers and pink-tipped hair from his social media dance videos.
Chozen Terrell-Hannah was arrested on February 23 after an FBI operation at his home in Redford Township. He now faces charges of robbery, which affected interstate trafficking and possession of firearms in support of crime of violence, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
According to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint, Terrell-Hannah, who has more than 149,000 followers and 1.6 million likes on TikTok, has admitted to committing four robberies targeting the 7-Eleven gas station twice. and a tobacco shop in Wayne and Auckland counties between December 2021 and February 2022.
The records say FBI agents learned of Terrell-Hannah’s alleged involvement in the robbery after receiving an anonymous tip directing them to his popular TikTok page, Chozenwrld. Eventually, the brightly colored hair of the young influencer and Nike’s shoes with unique red dots led to his arrest.
22-year-old Chozen Terrell-Hannah, a TikTok star known as “Chozenwrld”, is accused of committing four armed robberies in Michigan while wearing Nike shoes with a red accent
The sneakers seen in Terrell-Hannah’s September 24, 2021 video helped the feds link him to the robbery
Terrell-Hannah is said to have robbed this 7-11 in the Commerce Township, Michigan, twice: on December 1, 2021 and then again on January 26.
On January 13, a suspect wearing black clothes and white sneakers robbed this Marathon gas station in Dearborn with a weapon.
As they searched TikTok, investigators said they spotted a September 24, 2021 video showing Terrell-Hannah dancing shirtless in a pair of white and red Nike tennis shoes, which are said to be “similar in appearance to shoes, carried in … armed robbery “, according to the sworn declarations.
Agents also noted that in about half of Terrell-Hannah’s videos, his hair was dyed pink-purple, which is in line with the suspect’s description during the last robbery on February 1.
The investigation began on December 1, 2021, when a man wearing black pants, a black sweatshirt with a hood, a black ski mask and white shoes and wearing a black backpack with pink flowers on it, entered at 7-11, located at 710 Benstein . Road in Commerce Township, pulled out a gun on a store employee and escaped with an indefinite amount of cash.
More than a month later, on January 13, a suspect, dressed in black, wearing white sneakers and wearing a flower backpack, robbed the Marathon gas station in Dearborn at gunpoint. During this robbery, the suspect pressed the gun to the back of an employee, according to the affidavits.
On January 26, a gunman in white shoes returned at 7-11 to Commerce Township and robbed him for the second time.
The last robbery in the series took place on February 1, when an armed suspect in white sneakers robbed this tobacco store.
The victim of a tobacco shop robbery noticed pink or red hair sticking out of the robber’s ski mask, which would later help the federal authorities link Terrel-Hannah (pictured in TikTok) to the robbery.
Just five days later, the robber struck again, this time at the Old West Tobacco store in Novi, where he searched the cash register and escaped with cash and several boxes of cigars.
The 22-year-old influencer was arrested after an attack on his home in Michigan on February 23
The victim of the latest robbery noticed that the suspect had pink or red hair sticking out of his ski mask and hood.
In the following days, Dearborn Police Department received a report of a possible suspect in the robbery at the gas station, saying he had used the name of the “Chozenn_One” account at SnapChat, a council that eventually led investigators to Terrell-Hannah’s TikTok account.
Agents watched several videos showing Terrell-Hannah synchronizing his lips while wearing pink-purple hair, and stopped at the September 24 video showing him wearing the treacherous white Nike shoes.
An FBI task force found out where the suspect lived and began monitoring him. On February 14, a search warrant was received from T-Mobile at a number used by Terrell-Hannah, who placed the device in the area of each of the four robbery sites “around the reporting hours for each incident.”
Terrell Hannah allegedly admits to committing all four armed robberies
When investigators raided Terrell Hanna’s home in Redford last week, they claimed to have seized several items believed to have been used during the four armed robberies, including a black Glock pistol and a flower backpack on it. and white Nike tennis shoes with red accents.
After Terrell-Hannah was read about his rights to Miranda, the TikTok star allegedly made a confession.
“Hannah admitted to committing all four of the armed robberies described above and admitted to using the black floral backpack in all four armed robberies,” the affidavit said.
He must return to court at a later date.