Four years after shootout, Yorktown police want guns back

YORKTOWN – Nearly four years after a shootout with a bank robbery suspect, the Yorktown Police Department still doesn’t have its weapons back.

That’s because the criminal case stemming from the robbery and shootout is still pending, with the whereabouts of the defendant unknown.

James T. Cole, now 23, is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and two counts each of criminal confinement and attempted carjacking.

Cole is accused of firing an assault rifle at two Yorktown officers on Nov. 6, 2012, as he and an accomplice tried to flee from First Merchants Bank, 1501 N. Nebo Road, after a robbery.

The officers returned fire, wounding Cole. He was released from the Delaware County jail – to electronic home detention – in May 2013 after posting a $150,000 bond.

Five months later, Cole was released from electronic home detention.

In September 2015, defense attorney Michael J. “Mick” Alexander – who had been successful in winning postponement of Cole’s trial seven times – withdrew from the case, saying he had been “unable to contact the defendant.”

Delaware Circuit Court 4 Judge John Feick then issued a warrant for the arrest of Cole, who a year later remains at large.

Last May, Steve Murphy, attorney for the Yorktown Police Department, filed a petition asking that three YPD guns, to be used as evidence in Cole’s prosecution, be released.

“The guns (a shotgun and two pistols) are valuable to the town, and could be used by the (YPD) in its current law enforcement duties,” Murphy wrote.

“It appears that no further actions are scheduled due to the absence of the defendant from this jurisdiction,” he added.

Last week, Murphy and Deputy Prosecutor Joe Orick reached an agreement stating “the guns at issue belong to the town and will be returned at an appropriate time."

Also this year, representatives of the estate of bail bond agent Constance Scott – who died after posting Cole’s $150,000 bond – filed a motion asking that the estate not be required to forfeit the bond.

It alleges Scott was never informed that Cole was being released from electronic home detention in October 2015.

The motion also notes that two weeks before Cole’s release from home detention, the Delaware County Community Corrections office reported he had four negative drug screens since leaving jail.

Feick has set a hearing on that motion for Nov. 9.

Cole's co-defendant, Malcolm X. Crim, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to five felonies stemming from the bank robbery.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. Follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP.