Ann Arbor teens to stand trial in robbery of delivery driver, attempted robbery of another
Anthony Demario Hugan
Courtesy of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office
The teenagers accused of robbing a delivery driver and attempting to rob another in Ann Arbor will return to court in June after a judge sent the second suspect's case to trial Thursday.
Ann Arbor residents Anthony Demario Hugan, 18, and Jeffrey Howell, 18, were both in court Thursday. District Judge J. Cedric Simpson sent Hugan's case to the Washtenaw County Trial Court following a preliminary exam, court records show. Howell waived his right to a preliminary exam on May 3 and faced his first pretrial hearing Thursday.
Hugan and Howell are accused of robbing a 38-year-old Ypsilanti man who was delivering a pizza at 1 a.m. April 12 in the 1000 block of Bluestem Lane in Ann Arbor. They’re both accused of attempting to rob Soon Gin, a delivery driver from Happy Wok, five days later at 9:15 p.m. in the 2000 block of Liberty Heights.
Gin testified Thursday he went to the address on Liberty Heights and found no lights on at the home, a “For Sale” sign in the yard and no one at the residence. Sensing something wasn’t right, he went back to his car as a young man approached the area talking on his cell phone. Gin said he asked the man repeatedly if he had ordered food, but the man brushed him off.
“Something seemed funny,” he said.
Gin wasn’t able to identify Hugan in court Thursday, saying he never got a clear look at the man near his car or a second man who appeared to be hiding down some steps in a passageway of the condominiums. Gin eventually avoided confrontation and drove away from the area, before calling police to report the incident.
Court records show Hugan and Howell are both facing four criminal charges related to the two incidents. Both are charged with armed robbery, two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted armed robbery. They’re both lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail on a bond of 10 percent of $15,000. Howell was in court Thursday for a pretrial hearing in front of Washtenaw County Trail Court Judge David Swartz. He’ll return to Swartz’s court room for another pretrial hearing at 1:30 p.m. June 7, according to court records.
Jeffrey Howell
Courtesy of Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office
Hugan is scheduled to be in front of Swartz for a pretrial hearing at 1:30 p.m. June 14, records show.
Hugan and Howell are also suspected of robbing the Ypsilanti man, a Bell’s Pizza employee, of money and food on April 12.
In that case, the delivery driver went to Bluestem Lane and saw two men sitting on the steps of a condo. They waved him over and one of them appeared to be reaching into his pocket for money, but instead he produced a gun. Police said the second man held the driver’s hands behind his back and searched his pockets, taking the money from the man before fleeing the area.
Hugan and Howell were arrested April 23 in the 2700 block of Adrienne Drive. They’ve been lodged at the jail since then.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
ADH
Fri, May 18, 2012 : 1:43 a.m.
Kyle move on i'm not buying your story
Kyle Feldscher
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 2:19 p.m.
RCDC and ADH: If you would like, you may compare my coverage of these two men to my coverage of Jason Davis, who's accused of robbing the Circle K and Denny's in Ann Arbor last month as well. Hugan and Howell are further along in the court proceedings, but I'll be following Davis' preliminary exam later this week as well. http://www.annarbor.com/news/crime/man-charged-with-robbing-ann-arbor-dennys-and-circle-k-held-on-50000-bond/ http://www.annarbor.com/news/crime/man-accused-of-robbing-ann-arbor-dennys-circle-k-returns-to-court-in-2-weeks/
kalamityjane
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 1:06 p.m.
What does race have to do with anything here? The story beng reported was a crime and crime stories are ALWAYS followed up on. Three stories have bee npublished, the first one stating the crime, the follow up of them heading to court and the outcome of the court. These are the things the public asks for, they want to know are accused criminals in or out of jail and what is going on with the progress of their cases. Repeated publications of "noble" acts would be redundant and unnecessary. However, if someone does a series of noble acts they are typically published. I'm all for equal rights and agree that Blacks often get degraded in media but this is just a case of a follow up local news story. Not to mention this is Ann Arbor, this is very intriguing to many people as such crimes are not a regular occurence. As well, many crimes of this nature have happened around the same time here in Ann Arbor lately. And the White guys that have been accused of recent robberies and thefts have had article appear repeatedly as well.
ADH
Mon, May 14, 2012 : 11:25 p.m.
I agree report something else you keep posting this story it's almost like you want them to get convicted. I guarantee if either one of these 2 young men did something really noble or charitable it would not get this much attention. This story is getting really old. Move on!!
RCDC
Mon, May 14, 2012 : 8:01 p.m.
The amount of times they have put these young men in the paper is DISGUSTING..Had it been a Caucasian it would've been brought up once and never spoken of again.
Jimmy McNulty
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 12:30 p.m.
Really? Kind of like that kid that ran over the ducklings last year? These thug wannabees would've kept going if not caught. I like to see their progress through the system.
xmo
Mon, May 14, 2012 : 6:07 p.m.
This is Ann Arbor? I guess these kids are part of the "Achievement Gap" that they talk about in Ann Arbor Public Schools. They should be working on "High Tech" big money scams not this nickel and dime stuff!
motorcycleminer
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 11:19 a.m.
Hi tech scams are hard to do from an X-box....