Man charged with robbing pair cleaning woman's yard

Prosecutors have charged a man accused of robbing pair of friends at knife-point as they cleaned up a woman's yard in Kearns.

The pair, one of whom was 17, were at the woman's home Wednesday when the 31-year-old man pulled up in a blue car, according to charges filed Friday in 3rd District Court. The man, who goes by Jonny Blaze and also lives in the house, asked what they were doing. When they told him they were cleaning, he drove away, but allegedly sped back about 20 minutes later and jumped out of the car with a hunting knife.

He "appeared to be on drugs," and started yelling about a girl, according to charging documents. He allegedly demanded they empty out their pockets, taking $32, a purple condom, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter and a pair of headphones.

He told them to leave and threatened to kill them if they returned. The teen tried to grab his phone back, and the man yelled "What are you doing? ... this is a jacking," according to the charges. When the teen he wasn't leaving without the phone, the man allegedly punched him with his knife hand, cutting him on the neck and shoulders.

The two walked to the nearest police station and reported the robbery. Police went back to the house and arrested the alleged robber and a female companion, seizing a bag of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in the process.

Prosecutors charged him Friday with five felonies and four misdemeanors: two first-degree felony counts of aggravated robbery, two third-degree felony counts of aggravated assault, one count of possession of a controlled substance, also a third-degree felony, plus class-A misdemeanor possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, two counts of class-B misdemeanor threat of violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia, also a class B misdemeanor.

lwhitehurst@sltrib.com

Twitter: @lwhitehurst