By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
A Yukon teen is due to be sentenced this week after entering a blind guilty plea for allegedly robbing two people at gunpoint last summer.
Perry Jonas Nathaniel Withey, 19, appeared with his attorney Stacy L. Smith for a Jan. 26th court hearing before Canadian County District Judge Khristan K. Strubhar.
The defendant was charged July 15, 2022, with two counts of first-degree robbery in Canadian County District Court. He was booked into the Canadian County Jail four days earlier after being arrested in connection with the Yukon theft.
Withey admitted he and another individual “wrongfully robbed” the victims of their Apple iPhones “by putting them in fear of immediate serious bodily injury by using a tire iron and a gun in a threatening manner,” according to his signed guilty plea.
Assistant District Attorney Austin T. Murrey alleges Withey wrongfully took the phones in the “immediate presence” of a male victim from Bethany and a female victim from Oklahoma City without their consent and against their will.
Oklahoma state law classifies this case as first-degree robbery because the defendant intentionally placed the victims “in fear of immediate serious bodily injury by means of assault with a crowbar and handgun,” according to the charging document.
Formal sentencing will be 1:30 p.m. this Thursday, Feb. 23 before Judge Strubhar.
A pre-sentence investigation report was filed Jan. 24. Last October, the defendant waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
First-degree robbery is a felony crime punishable by 10 years to life in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
APP TRACKS STOLEN PHONES
The armed robbery was reported to Yukon Police about 1:35 a.m. July 11, 2022, in the 2100 block of S Holly.
The victims told officer Cooper Finch they were robbed at gunpoint by two male suspects who took their Apple iPhones and “ran off towards the east side of the park,” according to a Yukon police report.
The alleged victims used an app to track their stolen iPhones, and one phone was “pinging” at a house on Ronald Street.
After contacting individuals in the home, officer Finch arrested Withey for using the gun to commit the robbery and allowing a minor to possess a firearm.
