Ethan Hicks

WASHINGTON, Pa. — A Butler teenager faces a hearing Wednesday on charges he and three accomplices robbed a Chinese restaurant delivery driver at gunpoint.

Ethan Jaylee Hicks, 18, has been in the Washington County Jail on $75,000 bail since his arrest in connection with the New Year's Day holdup.

He also was caught with six stamp bags of suspected heroin in the alleged stickup, which ended with the suspects running away empty-handed.

Washington police said they were called a little after 9 p.m. Jan. 1 to the city's West End section where a driver for the How Lee Restaurant reported he was robbed by four unknown males.

The driver said he was making a delivery, according to court documents, when the four suspects accosted him and began “yelling at him to give them food.”

The driver made his delivery, but when he returned to his car one of the suspects put what appeared to be a handgun to his head and told him to give them his money.

Instead of surrendering the money, the driver “grabbed a hold of the handgun,” police said, “and struggled with an unknown male.”

The four robbers fled and were last seen running between houses.

About 10 minutes later, while searching the area, police said, an officer spotted two men, one later identified as Hicks, a block away. He was caught a short time later.

His alleged accomplices apparently remain at large.

Following his arrest, documents said, Hicks blurted out, “It wasn't even a real gun,” referring to the weapons used in the suspected holdup.

Police said they searched the teen and found him with six bags of heroin.

“Hicks stated that he didn't use heroin,” according to a police affidavit, “and admitted that he had it to sell.”

Hicks was subsequently arraigned on felony charges of robbery, conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, and a misdemeanor charge of drug possession

Hicks' preliminary hearing is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the office of District Judge Robert Redlinger in Washington.