A Pulaski County circuit judge issued a no-bail arrest order Monday for an armed robbery and arson suspect when the 19-year-old Little Rock man did not show up for his arraignment.
Melvin Eugene Lunnie is one of two teenagers accused of stealing a Little Rock woman's pickup at gunpoint, then abandoning the vehicle and setting it on fire in May.
Charged with aggravated robbery and arson, Lunnie was scheduled to make his first circuit court appearance Monday afternoon, but he did not appear.
Judge Leon Johnson ordered that Lunnie be arrested and jailed without bail until he can be brought to court. Court records show he originally posted $15,000 bond to be released from jail, but the records don't show when he was released.
The aggravated robbery and arson charges against Lunnie's co-defendant, 17-year-old Abdrahman Haidara of Little Rock, were transferred to juvenile court Friday by the judge under the Extended Juvenile Jurisdiction Act. That act would allow authorities to send Haidara to prison if he is not found to be rehabilitated by the time he turns 21 in November 2018.
At a transfer hearing Friday, Little Rock detective Grant Humphries testified that Haidara had been identified as the "compassionate" robber by victim Teresa Griffith.
Griffith, 61, reported that she was held up at gunpoint by two men, their faces covered by bandannas, about 1:40 a.m. May 7, while she was renovating a Little Rock residence at 3507 Coffer Lane, off Hilaro Springs Road, the detective said.
The robbers, one of them aggressive and threatening, the second quieter and calmer, demanded her money, taking her truck keys and cellphone before the pair drove off with her black 1999 Dodge Ram, the detective said.
The robber she described as "compassionate" and "very kind" declined to steal her music player when she begged the pair not to take it because it was all she had, Humphries said.
Questioned by defense attorney David Sudduth, Humphries described Haidara as tearful and apologetic and said he cooperated when police arrested him several hours later.
Haidara called the robbery "a stupid mistake ... I didn't know it was a lady," the detective said. Haidara said he wanted to back out of the robbery, but did not because he felt he had gone too far to stop, Humphries said.
Haidara also admitted to carrying a pistol in the holdup and told police where they could find it, under the front passenger seat of the car he was riding in when he was arrested, the detective said.
Haidara and Lunnie were arrested together during a traffic stop at Arch Street Pike and Rauch Road by Pulaski County sheriff's deputies investigating complaints about someone setting a pickup -- Griffith's truck -- on fire at 4920 Geyer Springs Cut Off, the detective said.
Lunnie denied wrongdoing and told police a completely different story, Humphries said, without elaborating.
Neighbors described seeing a gray Chevrolet Camaro, and deputies stopped a vehicle matching that description about 5½ hours after Griffith was robbed, according to arrest reports.
Investigators found a gas can and two pistols in the car, one of them under Haidara in the front seat, the detective said. Griffith told police that the can had been in the bed of her truck, Humphries said.
The second gun was found under the seat of the driver, 19-year-old Treyvone Deshaun Hampton of Little Rock, who was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He told police he did not see how the truck fire started but that Lunnie had put the gas can in his Camaro.
The third passenger, 19-year-old Donte Jawon Davies of Little Rock, said he saw Lunnie pouring gas on the truck, then lighting a piece of paper that he threw into the pickup, the detective said.
Haidara has a juvenile conviction for carrying a weapon, a misdemeanor charge stemming from a Jan. 26, 2014, arrest, according to other testimony.
Court records show his younger brother, Siddick Haidara, and a co-defendant, James Hanton, were arrested on felony theft and residential burglary charges on April 29 over accusations that the pair, both 16, stole two guns and $2,800 from the C Street home of Michael McKinney of Little Rock.
The teens were charged as adults, but prosecutors agreed to transfer the charges to juvenile court July 10 after both admitted to the crimes under oath and promised to plead guilty at their first juvenile court appearance, court filings show.
Metro on 07/21/2015