Published Friday, November 20, 2009
Teen charged in string of robberies
The Newnan Times-Herald
A juvenile is being charged as an adult in four Coweta County armed robberies and four aggravated assaults.
Ardarius Hart, 15, went before the court Thursday morning for a preliminary and bond hearing. He has been held at the Paulding County Youth Detention Center since his Oct. 10 arrest.
Judge Jack Kirby found probable cause for Hart's criminal charges and bound the case over for trial. He set Hart's bond at $25,000 for each of the eight counts.
Hart's attorney, Graylin Ward, asked the judge for a more reasonable bond.
"I think my ruling was imminently reasonable given the facts I've just heard," he replied.
Hart is charged with armed robberies that took place on Sept. 2, Sept. 11, Sept. 26 and Oct. 9.
The Sept. 2 incident occurred just before 10 p.m. at The Villas at Newnan Crossing -- 1200 Newnan Crossing Boulevard East. The perpetrator took a woman's purse while brandishing a small, silver pistol, according to the testimony of Detective Sgt. Rick Mires of the Newnan Police Department.
The victim's purse was later found on Sept. 7 in the Stonebridge subdivision approximately 300 feet from Hart's home, according to the detective.
According to Mires, on Sept. 11 at approximately 3:40 p.m., two male suspects approached a woman at The Villas apartments and took her purse. One of the males had a chrome pistol.
The final city burglary occurred at The Villas on Oct. 9. At approximately 10 p.m., a pizza delivery man was robbed at gunpoint, and the perpetrator fled toward the back gate of the apartment complex, which leads to Stonebridge, according to Mires.
In a separate area of the complex minutes after the man was robbed, a female was assaulted by a man who struck her in the face with a gun as she was tending to her young child. When she screamed, he fled.
An off-duty police officer saw a man in the complex who was dressed suspiciously and acting unusual. However, the officer was unaware of the two incidents that had just taken place in the complex.
That officer spotted the same subject -- later identified as Hart -- again the following day, Oct. 10, and approached him. Hart gave the officer a false name and date of birth and refused to let the officer search his backpack. Two officers patted him down for their safety and felt a firearm in the bag. It was an unloaded chrome pistol, according to Mires.
City police executed a search warrant at Hart's home and found nothing that directly connected him to the armed robberies. Police were able to determine that the gun was Hart's father's.
Inv. Josh Jordan of the Coweta County Sheriff's Office testified that on Sept. 26, a man was walking by Park Manor Apartments, located off Forest Circle, when a suspect approached and put a gun to the back of his head. The victim reportedly tried to talk the suspect out of robbing him. He initially only gave him some of his money, but the suspect demanded to have all of it.
After the suspect fled, the victim decided to follow him from a safe distance. He watched the suspect enter an apartment within Park Manor and later leave. Authorities were unable to locate and identify the suspect at that time.
Investigators later questioned residents of that apartment. One of the people who had been at the apartment that day told Jordan that Hart had been there as well.
Jordan showed his victim a photo lineup with Hart's picture and he quickly picked Hart out, saying he was "100 percent sure" he was the person who robbed him at gunpoint.
