Teen admits to robbery-related shooting
NORRISTOWN » A Lansdale teenager charged as an adult in connection with the shooting of a man during a botched marijuana deal in Hatfield Township has accepted a plea deal that will send him to prison for several years.
J’Mel Anthony Duran-Taylor, 17, of the 800 block of Wedgewood Drive, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 4½ to nine years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of robbery in connection with the 7 p.m. Jan. 19, 2017, incident in a parking lot on Maple Avenue in Hatfield during which he shot a 19-yearold man while trying to rob the man of marijuana.
Judge Thomas C. Branca accepted the plea agreement and recommended that Duran-Taylor, who was 16 at the time of the incident, be housed at the State Correctional Institution at Pine Grove in Indiana County, which caters to younger inmates.
Specifically, by pleading guilty to the robbery charge, Duran-Taylor admitted that during the course of committing a theft he inflicted serious bodily injury to the victim.
“He took responsibility for his actions in causing serious bodily injury to the victim by shooting him five or six times in the arm and leg,” said Assistant District Attorney Robert Kolansky, who sought state prison time against Duran-Taylor.
Duran-Taylor, through his lawyer James Tone, initially had requested that his case be transferred to juvenile court, where punishments are less harsh and the focus is more on rehabilitation. However, Duran-Taylor, who was charged as an adult due to the violent nature of the crime, decided to accept the plea agreement shortly before that juvenile decertification hearing was about to begin before Judge Branca.
“At the end of the day, the defendant will be serving a substantial state prison term that takes into account the seriousness of the offense. We think that this was an appropriate resolution of his case,” Kolansky said.
Other charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault were dismissed against Duran-Taylor as part of the plea agreement.
Another individual, 17-year-old Trent Reppert, of the 1600 block of Bustard Road in Towamencin, also was charged as an adult with conspiracy in connection with the incident. However, Reppert’s case was later transferred to juvenile court.
At the time of the arrests, detectives alleged Reppert had communicated with the victim via the social media phone application Snapchat to set up a deal for Duran-Taylor to buy $80 worth of marijuana from the victim. Reppert also told detectives that he’d known Duran-Taylor had committed other robberies during drug transactions but claimed he didn’t know Duran-Taylor was planning to rob and shoot the victim that night, according to court documents.
An investigation began when Hatfield police were dispatched to a local hospital for a report of a 19-year-old gunshot victim who had been transported to the hospital by a friend, according to the criminal complaint filed by Hatfield Detective Richard Hoffner. The victim told police that he communicated with Reppert and agreed to a drug transaction and that a meeting was set up to occur at the Hatfield Village Apartments on Maple Avenue.
According to the criminal complaint, Reppert and Duran-Taylor met the victim at the designated meetup area, and Duran-Taylor got into the front passenger seat of the victim’s vehicle. During the drug transaction, an argument ensued and Duran-Taylor brandished a handgun and demanded the drugs, detectives alleged.
After the victim said the drugs were at his residence, according to detectives, Duran-Taylor pointed the gun at the victim and his two friends and said he would “pop everyone if you don’t drive to the crib.”
The victim then drove to another parking area in the apartment complex and tried to get out of his SUV, but Duran-Taylor got out and fired several shots into the SUV, hitting the victim in his hand, arm and leg, according to the criminal complaint.