Armed Robbery Preliminary Hearing Bifurcated to Later Date

The preliminary hearing of Cleveland Ford Jr. and Pau Chau, both of Philadelphia, will continue later in the month after the Commonwealth called for a bifurcation in order for a late-term pregnant co-defendant — who is also Ford's girlfriend and Chau's sister — to be present to testify at their hearing.

Ford Jr. and Chau, both 25, along with co-defendant, Ford's girlfriend and Chau's sister Diep Thi Luu, 29, are charged

The hearing was stopped during Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Teresa Kibelstis' questioning of Lower Gwynedd Township Officer Daniel Diedel regarding his interaction with Luu during a traffic stop the morning of the robbery.

Ford's defense attorney Tom Egan and Chau's attorney Tom Carluccio objected to the questions, claiming any response by Diedel would be hearsay. Egan said a co-defendant's statement cannot be used against another co-defendant.

District Judge Andrea Duffy agreed, and after much debate, Kibelstis decided to continue the hearing at a time when Luu would be available to testify. Kibelstis said Luu made a written statement and agreed that she would testify in court.

According to law, in cases where two or more codefendants are tried together, such as the case with Chau and Ford Jr., a statement or confession by another codefendant cannot be used against any codefendant if that person does not testify.

Under the Aranda-Bruton Rule, a defendant's right to confront his or her accuser could be violated if the defense attorney cannot cross examine the codefendant.

The Hearing: Part 1

At the hearing on Monday afternoon, an employee of LumenOptix testified that he had arrived at work at around 6:20 a.m. March 30 with two other employees.

The alleged victim said he arrived at work and parked his car and "two guys came to rob me."

He testified he got out of his car, went to the passenger side of his car and retrived his lunchbag from the backseat.

He said two men approached him — one tall and one short — and said they were both wearing black shirts, black pants and masks. 

"He said, 'You have money?' and I said 'Yeah.' One guy had gun," said the employee, an Asian man who did not speak proper English. "I saw him load the gun and put it at my head."

He said he did not know if it was a real gun or a fake gun, and described it as "black" and six inches long.

He said the suspects took his lunchbag, but not his wallet.

"After they took bag, I go inside and told supervisor to call police," the employee said. "They went in the car and drove away."

The alleged victim described the car as a "small white car" with four doors. He said he never saw the car again.

Inside the man's lunchbag were his lunch, a screwdriver, as well as documentation on employees of LumenOptix.

The man testified that Chau used to work part-time for the company for nearly two months, but was laid off.

In a cross examination, Egan asked the employee how he could have told police that a suspect was a black man if they had masks on their faces.

"I could hear his voice," the employee said.

"You thought he was black because of his voice?" asked Egan.

"Yes," the employee said.

"Not because of anything you saw?" asked Egan.

"No," said the employee.

The employee said he did not see the suspects leave the lot, but did see them get in the white car.

Carluccio asked the employee how long the suspects stood with him, and he answered "one minute."

He said he had not seen Chau for "a couple months."

A supervisor at LumenOptix took the stand and said on the morning of March 30, two girls came into the business and told her that the alleged victim was jumped in the parking lot.

"I got up and started walking toward the door. (One of the girls) yelled that they got a gun. I shut the door and told them to go in the lunch room," the supervisor said. "I looked out the window to see a white four-door car pass by the window."

She said she could see two occupants in the car, but couldn't make out their faces or races.

"I got on the phone with 9-1-1 and went out to check on (the employee)," she said.

She testified that when she arrived to work around 5:55 a.m., there was a dark 4-door car that looked like an old police car parked along the median in front of the industrial park where LumenOptix is located.

Police said in an affidavit that this was a car operated by Luu, with Ford Jr. as the passenger.

Montgomery Township Officer Mark Webster testified that he encountered a blue Mercury Marquis and a white Honda Civic at around 5:30 a.m. in the area of Welsh Road and Keystone Drive.

He said both vehicles turned very slowly onto Keystone Drive from Welsh Road and both came to a stop along the curb.

He said he put his spotlight on both cars, as it was twilight, and both cars pulled away from the curb and continued on Keystone Drive onto Progress Drive and then onto Route 309.

"They were obviously following each other," Webster said.

Webster said both vehicles turned into the Gwynedd Crossing Shopping Center on Route 309 near Welsh Road. He said both vehicles stopped in a right turning lane within the shopping center, but turned left from the right turn lane. Webster conducted a traffic stop on the Mercury, but the Civic continued on without stopping, he said.

He identified the driver of the Mercury as Luu and said there was a "slender black male with dark clothing on" as her passenger, whom he did not ask for identification or a name from during the stop. There was also an infant in the car, later identified in the affidavit as Ford and Luu's daughter.

He said Luu told him she was lost and he directed them how to get to LumenOptix and then let them go.

"The male told me he was starting a new job," Webster said. "I asked where they were headed, and he said he was following his brother-in-law. I asked where they were going and he said LumenOptix."

Webster said the Mercury went out to Welsh Road and turned onto Welsh.

At 6:30 a.m., Webster received a report of a robbery at 203 Progress Drive.

"I belived the people I stopped earlier may have been involved," Webster said.

In a cross examination by Egan and Carluccio, Webster said the occupant of the Civic was a male because the driver "had no long hair and no girlish features." Webster said he was two car lengths back from the Civic during the initial stop.

Diedel testified that he received a Be On the Lookout call from Montgomery Township and spotted a Marquis at around 6:46 a.m. that "exactly matched" the description stopped at a light at eastbound Welsh Road and Lower State Road.

He said the driver of the car did not move on the green light, so Diedel conducted a traffic stop. He said there were two occupants in the car: Luu and an infant.

It was then when the argument over hearsay began, and Kibelstis opted for a bifurcation of the hearing.

, including eight felonies:

• Felony Robbery - Threatening With Serious Bodily Injury
• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Robbery
• Felony Robbery - Taking Property By Force
• Conspiracy to Commit Robbery - Taking Property By Force
• Felony First-Degree Aggravated Assault
• Felony Second-Degree Aggravated Assault
• Felony Possession of a Firearm by A Person Prohibited to Carry a Firearm
• Felony Carrying a Firearm Without A License
• Misdemeanor Simple Assault
• Misdemeanor Theft By Unlawful Taking
• Misdemeanor Receiving Stolen Property
• Misdemeanor Recklessly Endangering Another Person
• Misdemeanor Possession of a Weapon
• Misdemeanor Possession of an Instrument of Crime

on the following charges:

• Felony Robbery - Threatening With Serious Bodily Injury
• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Robbery
• Felony Robbery - Taking Property By Force
• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Robbery - Taking Property By Force
• Felony First-Degree Aggravated Assault
• Felony Second-Degree Aggravated Assault
• Misdemeanor Simple Assault
• Misdemeanor Theft By Unlawful Taking
• Misdemeanor Receiving Stolen Property
• Misdemeanor Recklessly Endangering Another Person
• Midemeanor Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle

Luu, of Philadelphia, had a preliminary hearing on April 24, 2012 before Duffy. The following charges were held for county arraignment:

• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Robbery - Threatening Immediate Serious Injury
• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Robbery - Taking Property From Another by Force (third degree)
• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault
• Felony Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault (second degree)
• Misdemeanor Conspiracy to Recklessly Endanger Another Person 
• Misdemeanor Endangering the Welfare of Children by a Parent
• Misdemeanor Possession of a Controlled Substance
• Misdemeanor Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

Luu had a habeas corpus hearing on August 22 and has a pre-trial conference scheduled for Oct. 1 at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, according to court records.

Luu posted $100,000 unsecured bail on July 31, which was changed from $50,000 cash bail, according to court records.

The Affidavit

According to Montgomery Township Detective John McGready in an affidavit, on March 30, at 6:20 a.m., police responded to a report of an armed robbery at LumenOptix.

An investigation revealed that two males, described as a black male and Asian male, confronted three employees in the parking lot as they arrived for work, police said. The suspects were seen exiting a white vehicle, police said.

The black male suspect was armed with a black handgun and held the gun against the side of the employee's head while demanding money, police said.

The suspects then fled the area in a small white vehicle, police said.

The affidavit continues the tale of the incident from Diedel's traffic stop.

According to the affidavit, Diedel stopped the Mercury Marquis, allegedly driven by Luu, and discovered Ford was no longer in the vehicle.

Montgomery Township Officer Joseph McGuigan also responded to the traffic stop, according to the affidavit.

McGuigan asked Luu where Ford was, and Luu allegedly said she dropped him off at LumenOptix to start a new job, according to the affidavit.

Police said the alleged victim viewed an in-car video of the vehicle being followed by Luu and Ford. The man identified the car as being the same one that the suspects used to arrive and flee the scene of the robbery, police said.

Police said the vehicle, a white Honda Civic, was found abandoned at Wesco Manufacturing at 1250 Welsh Road. 

Employees of Wesco Manufacturing recalled seeing an Asian male park the car in the lot around 6:30 a.m. and walk eastbound on Welsh Road, according to the affidavit.

Documents belonging to the alleged victim were found inside the Civic, according to the affidavit, who identified them as being in the lunchbag stolen from him during the robbery.

The Honda Civic used in the robbery was reported stolen to Philadelphia Police on March 30, 2012 at 5:30 a.m., according to the affidavit. Police said the car was stolen between March 29 and March 30 from outside a home near Luu's residence, according to the affidavit.

Police said a subject identifying himself as Ford Jr. and the boyfriend of Luu called Montgomery Township Police on March 30. The subject wanted to know what happened to Luu, according to the affidavit.

McGready stated in the affidavit that he asked Ford if he was in the vehicle with Luu when she was stopped earlier that morning, and he allegedly said he was in the vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Ford told police that he would come to the station to discuss what had happened, but never appeared, police said.

Luu was eventually arrested for charges related to the robbery and possession of a controlled substance, according to the affidavit.

The Philadelphia Shooting

On July 11, 2012, Philadelphia Police investigated a shooting at 7436 Medrick Place in Philadelphia, according to the affidavit.

At the scene, a Taurus .40-caliber handgun was found, according to the affidavit. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Gun Violence Task Force discovered that gun and a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun were purchased by Azizah Nurabdulmatin of Philadelphia at a gun shop in the city, according to the affidavit.

Nurabdulmatin told police that he purchased the guns for Ford at Ford's request, according to the affidavit. She said Luu allegedly gave her cash for the purchase of the guns, according to the affidavit.

Police said Nurabdulmatin was driven to a gunshop by Luu and Ford on March 29, 2012. After making the purchase, Luu and Nurabdulmatin returned to the vehicle to an awating Ford, police said. The gun was placed under the front passenger seat, and Ford drove the vehicle away with the two women as passengers, according to the affidavit.

Police learned during the Montgomery Township investigation that Chau is Luu's brother and was formerly employed at LumenOptix, according to the affidavit.

Chau was familiar with the alleged victim, who was the crew leader at LumenOptix, police said. Chau know that the alleged victim was paid cash to recruit other employees and that the employuee would be paid that Friday, according to the affidavit.

Police said Chau and Ford Jr. allegedly had a conversation at 4 a.m. March 30 about carryig out the robbery. Ford rode in Luu's vehicle to do the robbery, with Luu driving, police said, and Chau followed in the Civic.

Police said that, followign the initial stop, Luu, Ford and Chau allegedly met at the Sunoco at Bethlehem Pike and Welsh Road, where Ford and Chau argued about whether to go through with the robbery, according to the affidavit.

Police said Ford got into the passenger seat of the Civic, while Chau drived. Luu remained in the area at a McDonald's, according to the affidavit.

About 20 minutes later, police said Luu got a phone call from Ford, telling her the robbery had gone bad, that they ditched the car and were on foot, according to the affidavit.

Ford told police he and Chau were lost, according to the affidavit. Luu too became lost after leaving the McDonald's, police said, and was pulled over by Diedel.