Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Woman working out plea agreement in multiple robbery case

Other four defendants to have court hearing June 28

Arrests

Abdul Shakir, David Hayes, Jovan Carter, Leonard Hunt and Sarah Cowen.

Updated Thursday, June 10, 2010 | 10:24 a.m.

Robbery Arrests

Abdul Shakir Launch slideshow »

A 19-year-old woman who was among five people arrested in April in connection with several Las Vegas Valley residential robberies and home invasions is working out a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Sarah Cowen — the only one of the five who doesn't have a criminal record — waived her preliminary hearing this morning in Clark County Justice Court as part of a plea agreement she is still working out with prosecutors.

Justice Joe Bonaventure bound Cowen over for trial at 1:30 p.m. June 17 in Clark County District Court.

Cowen has been charged with 11 felony counts, including robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of stolen property.

Cowen's attorney told the judge his client was having negotiations on reduced charges with prosecutors. Chief Deputy District Attorney Roy Nelson told the judge that the plea agreement is to be finalized on June 23, so prosecutors will ask for a continuance on June 17 of Cowen's trial.

Cowen was arrested after officers received tips that she could be involved with several of the 15 robberies and home invasions that took place between January and April.

After this morning's court hearing, Nelson, who heads the district attorney's gun crimes unit, said he couldn't yet divulge the nature of Cowen's agreement with prosecutors.

Meanwhile, four of Cowen's co-defendants have a preliminary hearing set for 9 a.m. June 28 before Clark County Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson.

The four men are Abdul Shakir, 40; Jovan Carter, 23; David Hayes, 35, and Leonard Hunt, 40.

Hunt and Shakir forfeited their parole and had to return to the Nevada state prison system to serve out sentences for other crimes, while Hayes, Carter and Cowen are all being held in the Clark County Detention Center, Nelson said.

"Our robbery detectives are still investigating them in order to solve the rest of the home invasion robberies," Nelson said. "We're in the process of determining whether or not we're going to file more charges in cases against each one of them."

Nelson said that charges have been filed against the five people in only four of the robberies and home invasions.

"We believe they committed somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 and 15," he said. "And 'they' meaning any combination of the four in the group."

According to investigators, most of the incidents took place in the western Las Vegas Valley, but some occurred in Henderson.

Police said all of the people charged knew each other and had some type of agreement to rob various homes.

Metro Police Lt. Clint Nichols has said some of the suspects were former roommates at Nevada State Prison.

Nichols said the estimated amount of the stolen items is about $20,000. Most of the property included jewelry, TVs and electronics.

The five suspects have been linked to several of the robberies and home invasions, but it is unknown how many of the 15 they allegedly committed. Nichols said the group might have been involved in other burglaries in addition to the 15 known incidents. The suspects in each case were armed, police said.

One of the home invasions that two of the suspects are allegedly linked to involved the March 31 shooting of a homeowner during an attempted robbery, Nichols said.

The shooting occurred when the homeowner tried to escape after being held at gunpoint in his home by two men, authorities said. Police said the men entered through the front door, which was unlocked, and demanded money from the homeowner.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy