Strong implications associated with aggravated robbery

April 13, 2013 (Press-News.org) Strong implications associated with aggravated robbery

Article provided by Law Offices of David Paul White and Associates
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Salt Lake City residents may recall hearing about how a teenage girl and two women were accused of robbing a man at gunpoint at a local hotel. The meeting occurred around 1:30 a.m. and was arranged online between strangers.

Allegedly, one of the accused adult women was invited to the motel by the victim through a website. Before going to the motel to meet the man, the woman allegedly sent a text message to the other two women involved. The first woman met the man at the hotel and the other two came shortly after. The three allegedly assaulted the man in the room by hitting him with the gun then stealing $330 from the man at gunpoint.

The victim saw the vehicle that the three women left the hotel in and called the police. Police officers eventually found the car outside of the apartment building where the teenage girl resides. The teenager's mother told the other two girls that they had to leave. The two were quickly arrested by police officers. Shortly after, the police arrested the teenager.

The two adults were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated robbery. The teenager was booked into juvenile detention for investigation of aggravated robbery.

Overview of aggravated robbery

Armed or aggravated robbery is defined as theft of money or property through the offender's use of physical force or the offender's use of fear against the victim with a deadly weapon involved. Aggravated robbery requires the presence of some kind of force and almost always requires the victim to either suffer from an injury or to have had reasonable threat of a potential injury.

Under Utah law, a person commits aggravated robbery if in the course of committing robbery he uses or threatens to use a dangerous weapon, causes serious bodily injury upon another person or takes or attempts to take an operable motor vehicle.

In Utah, aggravated robbery is a first-degree felony. This is an extremely serious crime. In fact, aggravated robbery has the same consequences as crimes including murder, rape, possession of a controlled substance with the intent of distributing near a school, and child kidnapping.

If convicted of aggravated robbery, one can be sentenced anywhere between five years to life in prison. Someone convicted of a first-degree felony can also be fined up to $10,000. The only other type of offense more serious than a first-degree felony offense is a capital offense, such as aggravated murder, where the crime is either life in prison, life in prison without parole, or death.

Robbery or aggravated robbery are not crimes to take lightly. Someone who is being accused of either of these two crimes should consult with a skilled attorney who can provide a meaningful defense.