Teenager convicted of robbing delivery driver now faces home invasion charge
The teenager who pleaded guilty to charges of armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery now faces a charge of home invasion, according to court records.
Jeffrey Howell
Courtesy of Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office
Jeffrey Howell, 18, pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery on July 5. Eight days later, he's facing a first-degree home invasion charge for breaking into a residence on April 5, one week before the robbery of a Bell's Pizza delivery driver, according to police.
The break-in occurred in the 2900 block of Sheffield Court in Ann Arbor, police said.
Howell was arraigned on the first-degree home invasion charge Friday afternoon and was lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail, records show. Bond information was not immediately available.
The charge comes just a week after Howell entered his guilty plea to two felonies related to April robberies.
In exchange for his plea in those robberies, a charge each of armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery was dropped, according to court records.
Howell reached a sentencing agreement with Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge David Swartz to not serve more than four years and three months in prison, according to court records. Swartz will sentence him at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 9.
That will be the same day Anthony Hugan, 18, will be in court for a pretrial hearing. Hugan and Howell allegedly worked together to rob a Bell’s Pizza driver and attempted to rob a driver from Happy Wok in Ann Arbor.
Anthony Demario Hugan
Courtesy of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office
A 38-year-old Ypsilanti man who worked for Bell’s, was robbed of cash and the pizza at 1 a.m. April 12 in the 1000 block of Bluestem Lane. The driver got out of the car with a pizza and was looking for the address when he was flagged down by the two teens, according to police.
As the driver came up to the teens, one of them put a hand into his pocket as if he was going to pull out money, but instead showed the driver a gun, according to police. The other teenager rifled through the man’s pockets and took cash; the two then stole the pizza and fled on foot, according to police.
Five days later, the driver from Happy Wok went at 9:15 p.m. to the 2000 block of Liberty Heights. Soon Gin, the driver, testified he felt the situation was suspicious when he approached the address he had been called to, because the residence appeared to be abandoned and a “For Sale” sign was in the front yard.
One man approached Gin’s car talking on a cellphone and repeatedly brushed Gin off when he was asked if he had ordered the food. A second man appeared to be hiding down some steps in a passageway of the condominiums, he said.
Before anything could happen, Gin said he got in his car and drove away from the area. Prosecutors contend Gin drove away before Howell could rob him.
The maximum penalty for armed robbery is life in prison.
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
eldegee
Thu, Jul 19, 2012 : 12:50 p.m.
I agree with Geraldo - hoodies are evil!
RJA
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 9:51 p.m.
Whar else is there to say? Lock em up!
swcornell
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 5:14 a.m.
I say enroll him in the Navy, send him to boot camp and stick him out in the middle of an ocean to learn some self respect and maybe even a skill or two!
nickcarraweigh
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 6:53 p.m.
Yeah, let's put him in charge of a $15 billion aircraft carrier. Couldn't do any harm.
martini man
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 12:28 a.m.
Some people just aint no good . And never will be . This just may be one of those cases.
anti-thug
Sun, Jul 15, 2012 : 11:06 p.m.
this nation ,USA is ilegal and and guilty of war crime's .....logically the us goverment has no right too in prision...let ask the native American what too do with this boy...the once 500 years back in time :)
vivian
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 12:24 p.m.
This comment is confusing to me--anyone know what anti-thug means?
Tru2Blu76
Sun, Jul 15, 2012 : 10:01 a.m.
"As the driver came up to the teens, one of them put a hand into his pocket as if he was going to pull out money, but instead showed the driver a gun" --- Show me your gun... and I may show you all 12 rounds of 9mm bullets in MY gun; coming at you at over 1000 feet per second. Both of these "teens" should take heed of the saying which goes: Live each day as if it's going to be your last. Some day: you're going to be right. Someone should also tell these "teens" that Michigan law provides that force may be met with equal or greater force (sufficient to STOP an attack). Keep threatening people's lives - and you'll be stopped by one of them one day. We have two great hospitals with great surgical facilities hereabout, but it may become a matter of living long enough to reach one of them. Do you feel that lucky?
nickcarraweigh
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 11:37 p.m.
Two weeks after a guilty plea to a life-without-parole armed robbery charge, the guy is charged again. The prosecutor must have time on his hands, and he might soon need it since only lunatics and the woefully ignorant will take a plea bargain offer in the future. Jury trials take lots more time than guilty pleas, but lately a Washtenaw County guilty plea seems to mean automatic life-without. Suspects might as well roll the dice and ask for a jury trial, since they can't do worse and they might do better. Nobody really knows what a jury will do.
Pete
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 11:24 p.m.
Whys everyone hating on jeff? bet none of you would say that to his face doe
Pete
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 11:14 p.m.
#FreeEars doe
lefty48197
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 1:29 p.m.
Three strikes? You're out buddy and you're one of the biggest losers on the planet. Enjoy your stay in Club Ionia.
a2cents
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 12:58 p.m.
OK, jail/prison may be deserved, but for an annual cost equivalent to (or greater than) a uom education, there has to be a better way. Even a t-p conservative should appreciate that fact. It's tax $'s after all.
Tru2Blu76
Sun, Jul 15, 2012 : 10:35 a.m.
FWIW: as one who has had his life put at risk by criminal action, I don't think this is an ideological / philosophical matter at all. But then, individual action and initiative is not a well regarded idea, judging from comments. Even so: there are situations where an innocent life is threatened and when the threatened (intended victim) one CAN take legal action to defend themselves. Meeting force (including deadly force) with equal or greater force sufficient to stop an attack: is perfectly legal and protected under Michigan law. Be well armed, be well trained, DON'T be a helpless victim. -- is what I believe and I have lots of company. Burial: is more cost effective than the alternative confinements mentioned so far. Also, the crime rate among corpses buried six feet under is zero. I have friends who had to use lethal force to defend themselves: the great thing is that they are still around, living their lives - while their attackers... are not.
vivian
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 10:09 p.m.
Since there's no editing feature, I'll just have to ask you to imagine a comma before 'doesn't' in the sentence beginning 'A third alternative,...' I blush.
vivian
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 9:52 p.m.
If cost is the primary consideration, a2cents, the most rational course of action is to execute him--if he's dead, he's no longer a danger to anyone, nor is he costing taxpayers any money. I don't think, however, that any of us would advocate that in his case. So we're left with the alternatives of spending money to keep him confined to a place where he can't cause any harm or spending money to attempt to change his habitual behavior (and meanwhile running the risk that he will continue to prey on other people while he is being treated for his pathologies). Since treatment programs for habitual criminals don't have much of a record of success, that alternative is very likely money thrown away. Surely no reasonable person, whether a progressive, a member of the TEA party, or something in between, advocates wasting taxpayers' money on things that have pretty consistently turned out to be ineffectual. A third alternative, spending no public money on him but sustaining the costs, financial and societal, of whatever damage he may do if left to his own devices doesn't seem like a cost-effective approach either, does it? So while I agree with you (and I'm not speaking as a member of any political group) that we would all benefit from a better way of handling 18-year-old habitual criminals, no one seems to have come up with one--despite decades of earnest effort on the part of a lot of well-intentioned people. What do you think we should do?
Pickforddick
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 1:08 p.m.
Why don't you enlighten us on the better way according to a L-W Liberal
Pickforddick
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 12:58 p.m.
Your right Jim....enough of these hotel prisons where the criminals are treated better than the victims....time to make our prisons a deterrent not a welcome sign.
Jim Van Buren
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 11:25 a.m.
The state of Michigan needs to rent space in the Louisiana penal system to send these types to for finishing school on a chain gang. A few months of this would get their heads straightened out.
motorcycleminer
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 11:17 a.m.
But there just poor misguided boys...just like charles manson , jeffery dahlmer , son of sam , green mountain killer , jim jones ..etc.etc.etc.etc...that is till they pull a gun on you...maybe the next time ( this is oz you know they'll just get another slap on the wrist ) they will be the ones looking down the barrel ....
Ron
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 10:47 a.m.
I bet with a little guidance and maybe some therapy talk, maybe just maybe there is a chance these 2 young men will have a chance in life. It is not always the parents fault. It could possibly be the type of guys they hang around with. I for one hope they get their life straight and move on in a good way for society and themselves.
smokeblwr
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 12:31 a.m.
Once your rotten at 18 you're gone.
xmo
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 12:15 a.m.
This is what happens when parents Fail and there becomes an "Achievement Gap" at school! They should throw their parents in jail also!
J. A. Pieper
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 12:54 a.m.
XMO - His role model should have been his parent(s). I am willing to guess that there was little support while in school, hence, he is on a different path that may be too late to change. At least you are assigning some responsibility to the parents, and not blaming his teachers.
Duper Bro
Fri, Jul 13, 2012 : 11:23 p.m.
Free Leo!
Pickforddick
Fri, Jul 13, 2012 : 11:14 p.m.
He needs a prison cell and that will be his role model.
Mr. Ed
Fri, Jul 13, 2012 : 8:40 p.m.
We need to help this young man. He needs a strong male role model in his life. Jail is no place for him.
martini man
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 12:38 a.m.
oh puhleeze !!!
Goober
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 6:14 p.m.
When do you want to pick him up, Mr. Ed?
KeepingItReal
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 3:05 p.m.
While I don't condone he actions of these two young men, the problem with sending them to prison is that once they return to society, they will more than like return after a short period time on the outside. For those of you who are so hell bent on them being in prison, think about the cost to us as taxpayers while they are there. It cost approximately $35,000 a year to incarcerate. It cost approximately $7500 annually to educate a kid in the public school system. To attend UM, it cost approximately $30,000 annually for an in-state student. I don't know about the rest of you but I think we need to find a much more effective way to spend out tax dollars.
Jay Thomas
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 : 3:30 a.m.
Could he come and live with you for five years w/ an ankle tracking device? Cause that would be justice enough for me.;)
vivian
Fri, Jul 13, 2012 : 9:17 p.m.
You're being ironic...aren't you? Someone needed to help this young man a long time ago, but it didn't happen. At this stage of his life and moral development, he needs far more than a strong male role model. More to the point, other people need (and deserve) to be protected from him; he's shown himself to be dangerous. It's a sad outcome for him, I agree, but I think that you'd be irresponsible to (seriously) suggest leaving him free to prey on others--surely he should be in a place where he can't do so. If you ARE by chance serious, can you tell us what you believe to be a reasonable alternative to jail (or some other place of confinement, whatever the name) for him? And (again, assuming that you weren't being ironic) can you explain why you believe that the introduction of a positive role model into his life at this point would change his ways of thinking and behaving? People pretty much are who they are by the time they're eighteen, seems to me.
greg, too
Fri, Jul 13, 2012 : 9:14 p.m.
Nope, he needs to spend a good deal of the rest of his life in prison. The time for a strong male role model was the first 18 years of his life. Now, unfortunately, he is our (the taxpayers) problem.