Robbery hearing set

PROVO — An Orem man who was captured on camera leaping over a cash store counter and tackling a female employee will have a preliminary hearing on March 1.

Junior Pale Fea, 28, is charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and aggravated kidnapping, all first-degree felonies.

Orem police said Fea entered Cash Valley near 600 N. State on Jan. 7, jumped over the counter, pointed the gun at the teller's head and told her to open the safe.

The woman struggled with Fea, giving him the money but refusing to let him duct tape her hands, feet and eyes.

While she struggled, the phone rang. Her husband was on the line. Fea tried to pull the phone from the wall but only succeeded in knocking the receiver off the base. The husband, hearing the robbery in process, called police on a different line.

Fea fled before police arrived, but the teller provided police with his file, because Fea had been in the store recently to make some transactions.

Fea was arrested at his home and taken to the Utah County Jail where he is still waiting on a $50,000 cash-only bail.

Orem City Prosecutor Mike Barker will be handling the case because of a conflict with Kay Bryson's office.

Barker said he expects five witnesses to testify at the prelim in March.

The clerk, who has since quit her job at Cash Valley in Orem, did not immediately return messages from The Deseret Morning News.