Teens accused in string of robberies make appearances in county court
Three 17-year-olds accused of committing a string of armed robberies in less than an hour’s time made court appearances Monday afternoon in Bowie County.
Jadan Trevon West, Mone’Treiyos Green and Adrian Jamal Black appeared separately at hearings before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell with Shoaib Daredia of the Bowie County Public Defenders Office. The teens are accused of robbing people in the parking lots of two Texarkana, Texas, apartment complexes, one Wake Village, Texas, apartment complex and of robbing the occupants of a taxi parked outside a Texarkana, Texas, residence.
In Texas, individuals accused of criminal conduct are handled in the adult system once they reach age 17.
At West’s hearing, Daredia asked that the case be referred to the grand jury for consideration. Daredia asked that Green’s and Black’s cases be referred to the grand jury as well but told Tidwell court appointed lawyers are needed in those cases as the public defenders office can-
not represent co-defendants as a conflict of interest could arise between them.
Tidwell appointed Texarkana lawyer Darren Anderson to represent Black and Texarkana lawyer Derric McFarland to represent Green. Tidwell scheduled all three defendants to return to court in late September. Aggravated robbery is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and the teens could potentially each face four counts.
The first of the four robberies occurred a couple of minutes before midnight on the night of July 31 at the Arista Apartments at 3515 Arista in Texarkana, Texas, according to multiple probable cause affidavits used to create the following account. Two people reported being approached by three men with guns while in the complex parking lot near building four. The victims reported that one of the guns pointed at them was outfitted with a laser sight and that one of the assailants asked, “What you got,” before taking a Nintendo Switch game system, video games, wallets and identifications. The second robbery was reported at the Sedonia Hills Apartments in Texarkana, Texas, at 4615 Summerhill Road at approximately 12:15 a.m. Aug. 1. A man reported he was sitting in his parked car outside of building 22 when a man walked up and asked to borrow his cell phone.
When the victim lowered his window, the man pointed a gun at him and ordered him out of his car. The man said he was forced to lie on the ground as the armed man kept a gun trained on him and two other men rifled through his car. The victim reported that the men who searched his car were wearing masks and that the trio left with his wallet, debit card, his identification, approximately $500 in cash and his iPhone 7.
The third robbery was reported shortly before 1 a.m. Aug. 1 at the Westwood Apartments in Wake Village at 101 Redwater Road. A man and woman reported they were sitting in a car when a man approached and asked to borrow a cell phone. Immediately two other men opened the car’s doors and forced them out at gunpoint. The victims of the Wake Village robbery also reported seeing a gun with a laser sight and said the laser was pointed at one of the victim’s heads. From this robbery a purse, two cell phones, cash and car keys were stolen.
A fourth robbery was reported at approximately 1:20 a.m. Aug. 1 in the 1800 block of W. 16th Street in Texarkana, Texas. A man and a woman reported they were sitting outside a residence in a taxi when they were approached by two men with bandanas on their faces. Both were armed with guns, one of which was described as having a laser attachment.
During the robbery, the victims heard one suspect call another by a name they thought was “Montel.” When the woman told the robbers she knew a Montel, one of the robbers allegedly responded, “B **** my name is Adrian,” the affidavits state. The two men then fled the robbery in a Ford Explorer driven by a third man. Taken in the fourth robbery were a wallet containing a debit card and identification and $86 in cash. Using video surveillance footage from businesses near the scenes of some of the robberies in the days following the hold-ups, investigators with the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department and Wake Village, Texas, Police Department identified a Ford Explorer suspected of being used in several of the robberies.
Texarkana, Ark., reported to Texarkana, Texas, police that an officer had pulled over a Ford Explorer the night of Aug. 3. Black was driving and Green’s sister was riding as a passenger. The Texas-side officer took photos of both of the Explorer’s occupants. The Explorer is registered to a woman allegedly listed by Black as his guardian.
One of the robbery victims reported that the Apple ID associated with his iPhone 7 had been changed in the days after the robbery to that of a woman. The woman allegedly turned out to be Green’s sister.
Officers with the Texarkana, Ark., police and Texarkana, Texas, police executed a search warrant Aug. 3 on Green’s sister’s home in the 3400 block of Creek Bend Lane in Texarkana, Ark. Recovered from the home and from a hiding place on property close by were stolen cellphones, the gaming system and identifications belonging to some of the robbery victims.
All three defendants are being held in the Bowie County jail.