18-year-old charged with downtown Ann Arbor purse-snatching heads to trial

The Washtenaw County Trial Court in downtown Ann Arbor.

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ANN ARBOR, MI -- An 18-year-old charged with strong-armed robbery will head to trial.

Jeremiah Facen waived his preliminary examination on Thursday, June 1, sending him to trial on charges of larceny, carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of stealing a financial transaction device. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 23 years.

Facen’s defense plans to invoke the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, or HYTA, which allows young adults with no prior offenses to have privacy for court matters that would typically be public.

Ann Arbor police officers were called to E. Washington Street and S. Fourth Avenue around 9:15 p.m. on May 8, for reports of a strong-armed robbery, police said. A 54-year-old Ohio woman had been walking west on E. Washington Street when she was approached by a man who grabbed her purse and began running down the street, police said.

The woman was not injured and did not know Facen, police said.

Her credit cards were used at several downtown businesses. Police used surveillance footage from one of the businesses to identify Facen, who was found on a bus that had stopped at the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority headquarters, police said.

Facen still had the woman’s purse and the purchased items when officers apprehended him. He was also carrying an unregistered, loaded firearm with an extended magazine, police said.

Facen is currently out on a bond of $2,500. He is next set to appear in court on Tuesday, July 11, before Judge Carol Kuhnke.

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