A West Valley man and an Ogden man accused of robbing a Wendover, Utah, restaurant appeared in 3rd District Court Tuesday.
Alfredo Morales-Moreno, 29, of West Valley City, and Manuel Sanchez, 19, of Ogden, made a court appearance Tuesday for their respective cases of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; attempted murder, a second-degree felony; aggravated assault, a third-degree felony; reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor; and theft, a class A misdemeanor.
The charges stemmed from an early-morning incident at Taco El Brasero on July 2.
Shortly after midnight, workers at the restaurant reported two men came into the restaurant and demanded the cash box, which contained around $500, and the cashier’s wallet, according to a probable cause statement. One suspect used a stun gun on one of the workers, while the other fired a handgun near an employee’s head, according to the statement.
The victims said the men fled in a white Dodge Charger, and one of the workers drove after them, where he said he was shot at, according to the statement. The worker also said he rammed the Charger twice, once on the driver’s side and once on the passenger side, before the car entered Interstate 80 from the frontage road, according to the statement.
Another witness followed the Charger on I-80 until it was stopped by troopers from the Utah Highway Patrol, according to the statement, who found Morales-Moreno and Sanchez inside.
The investigating deputy from the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office got a warrant to search the vehicle, according to the statement, and found $578 in cash, as well as some foreign money that matched the description of bills in the wallet from one of the victims.
The deputy and troopers also found clothing matching the description of the suspects from the restaurant, a stun gun allegedly belonging to Morales-Moreno and a .45-caliber bullet in Sanchez’s pocket that matched a shell casing from the frontage road where the victim reported being shot at, the report states.
The cash box was also found several miles east of where the car was stopped, according to the report, and tire tracks matching the car were found by the shell casing and the cash box. A victim identified Sanchez as firing the gun at the taco stand, the report states.
Sanchez will make his next court appearance Sept. 9. Morales-Moreno’s next court appearance was not scheduled as of press time.