Ikeem Mont and Tavon Jordan, both 18, will face trial for their involvement in the Jan. 9 Mad 4 Mex robbery, after a preliminary hearing yesterday morning sustained all police charges.
The District Attorney's office has not yet set a date for the trial. The defendants will remain in custody until the trial or until they can meet bail.
Penn Police will continue to investigate the case. Detectives said they have obtained a warrant and may make a final arrest soon.
The two defendants, as well as three Mad 4 Mex employee witnesses, were present at the hearing -- which took place at 8 a.m. at the 5500 Pine St. police station.
Though the defendants did not testify themselves, Mad 4 Mex Manager Darby Hoffman gave his account of the robbery and Penn Police Detective Marvin Jones read portions of the defendants' statements aloud.
"The restaurant had just opened and I was sitting in the office in the back," Hoffman said, as he recounted how approximately $10,000 was stolen from a safe in his office. "I went to the front of Mad 4 Mex to see what was going on with the customers and I saw two men in black masks, hooded sweatshirts."
"One of them pulled a shotgun out and pointed it to my head. I heard a click and fell to my knees," he added. "I asked them what they wanted and they said, 'Show us where the money is.'"
Jones said that the Penn police took verbatim statements from each of the defendants at approximately 8:52 a.m. on Jan. 11. The statements affirm the defendants' involvement in the robbery, he said.
Reading aloud from Jordan's statement, Jones said that the two defendants were wearing "black hoodies, black pants, black masks and I think Ikeem had black gloves. Ikeem was wearing black boots and I was wearing white sneakers."
Jordan's description of their clothing that day matched Hoffman's earlier statement.
After hearing the statements and Hoffman's testimony, the court sustained the defendants' combined charges for robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, terroristic threats, simple assault, possession of an instrument of crime, violation of the uniform firearms act, carrying a firearm in the street and recklessly endangering another person.
