A TikTok star from Detroit was busted for four armed robberies after police recognized his custom Nike sneakers and pink-tipped hair from his social media dancing clips.
Chozen Terrell-Hannah was arrested on February 23 following an FBI raid on his home in Redford Township. He now faces charges of robbery which affected interstate commerce and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, which are 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 1.6million ‘likes’ on TikTok, has admitted to carrying out four heists targeting a 7-11 store twice, a gas station and a tobacco shop in Wayne and Oakland counties between December 2021 and February 2022.
The filing states that FBI agents learned of Terrell-Hannah’s alleged involvement in the robberies after receiving an anonymous tip, which pointed them towards his popular TikTok page, Chozenwrld.
Chozen Terrell-Hannah, 22, a TikTok star known as ‘Chozenwrld,’ has been charged with committing four armed robberies in Michigan while wearing these red-accented Nike shoes
The sneakers seen in Terrell-Hannah’s September 24, 2021, video helped the feds connect him to the robbery spree
Terrell-Hannah allegedly robbed this 7-11 in 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 at gunpoint
On it, investigators said they noticed a video from September 24, 2021, showing Terrell-Hannah dancing shirtless in a pair of white and red Nike tennis shoes, which were said to be ‘similar in appearance to the shoes worn in the… armed robberies,’ according to the affidavit.
Agents also observed that in about half of Terrell-Hannah’s videos, his hair is dyed pinkish-purple, which matched the description of the suspect during the most recent robbery on February 1.
The investigation was launched on December 1, 2021, when a man wearing a black pants, black hooded sweatshirt, black ski mask, and white shoes, and carrying a black backpack with pink flowers on it, entered the 7-11 located at 710 Benstein Road in Commerce Township, pulled a gun on a store clerk and got away with an unspecified amount of cash.
More than a month later, on January 13, a suspect dressed in black, wearing white sneakers and carrying a floral backpack robbed a Marathon gas station in Dearborn at gunpoint. During that heist, the suspect pressed the gun against a clerk’s back, according to the affidavit.
On January 26, the armed crook sporting white shoes returned to the 7-11 in Commerce Township and robbed it a second time.
The final heist in the series took place on February 1, when an armed suspect in white sneakers robbed this tobacco shop
The victim of the tobacco shop robbery noticed pink or red hair sticking out of the robber’s ski mask, which would later help the feds link Terrel-Hannah (pictured on TikTok) to the heist
Just five days later, the robber struck again, this time targeting the Old West Tobacco store in Novi, where he ransacked the cash register and got away with cash and several boxes of cigars.
The 22-year-old influencer was arrested following a raid on his home in Michigan on February 23
The victim in the last robbery observed that the suspect had pink or red hair sticking out of his ski mask and hood.
In the days that followed, the Dearborn Police Department received a tip about a possible suspect in the gas station robbery, saying that he used the account name ‘Chozenn_One’ on SnapChat – a tip that ultimately led investigators to Terrell-Hannah’s TikTok profile.
Agents observed several videos showing Terrell-Hannah lipsynching while sporting pink-purple hair, and zeroed in on the September 24 video showing him wearing the tell-tale white Nike shoes.
An FBI task force found out where the suspect lived and started watching him. On February 14, a search warrant was obtained for location information from T-Mobile on a number used by Terrell-Hannah, which placed the device in the area of each of the four robbery locations ‘around the reported times for each incident.’
Terrell-Hannah allegedly confessed to committing all four armed robberies
When investigators raided Terrell-Hannah’s home in Redford Township last week, they allegedly seized several items believed to be used during the four armed robberies, including a black Glock handgun, a backpack with flowers on it and the white Nike tennis shoes with red accents.
After Terrell-Hannah was read his Miranda rights, the TikTok star allegedly made a confession.
‘HANNAH admitted to committing all four of the above-described armed robberies and acknowledged using the black backpack with a floral pattern in all four of the armed robberies,’ the affidavit stated.
