Former Spartan Auston Robertson has bond revoked after robbery arrest in Kansas

LANSING - Auston Robertson, a former Michigan State University football player awaiting trial on sex assault charges, had his bond in Ingham County revoked Thursday due to an alleged robbery in Kansas.

He was arrested Tuesday by Garden City, Kansas police on suspicion of four charges: aggravated robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, distribution of marijuana, and interfering with law enforcement officers, Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Nicole Matusko said during a bond hearing Thursday in Ingham County Circuit Court.

Robertson, 20, faces two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in an Ingham County case that dates to April 2017, when he allegedly assaulted a woman in her Meridian Township apartment.

More:Auston Robertson to face trial on two sexual assault charges

Judge Clinton Canady III last summer agreed to modify Robertson's bond so he could move from Ohio to attend school and play football in Kansas. He was required to wear a GPS tether as part of Canady's conditions.

On Thursday, Canady revoked Robertson's bond in the local case.

Robertson is currently being held on a $300,000 bond in Kansas and is expected to be formally charged there next week, Matusko said.

Robertson's trial had been scheduled to begin in May. It's unclear whether his Kansas case will affect the start date.

"Our office previously objected to the bond conditions that allowed the defendant to travel out of state," Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon said in a statement released after the hearing.

"While hindsight is of course 20-20, we believed at the time that continued placement here in Ingham County would allow the court to properly supervise this defendant during the pre-trial phase. It is always disconcerting when a criminal defendant fails the conditions of their bond and we believe the courts have now taken the proper action."

Robertson fled Michigan after the incident last April, and was arrested in Fort Wayne, Indiana before being extradited back to Michigan.

More:Judge allows former Spartan Auston Robertson to play football in Kansas

Garden City Community College won the 2016 National Junior College Athletic Association football championship. Last fall, Robertson played defensive end in all 12 games for the Broncos, logging 73 tackles. The team finished the season 8-4.

MSU head coach Mark Dantonio removed Robertson from the team the same day charges were announced last April.

Robertson also had legal problems before joining the Spartans.

He was arrested in January 2016 on a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an October 2015 incident at his high school, Wayne High. Robertson was accused of improperly touching a female classmate, according to court records. 

Those charges were later cleared from Robertson's record after he fulfilled the terms of his diversionary program, the records say.

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.