Jeffrey Arthur Schuh, Jeffrey Aron Schuh, Quang Nguyen, Stephen Colwell
The three members of a group of men that allegedly broke into homes throughout Washtenaw County are working on plea deals with Washtenaw County prosecutors, attorneys said Wednesday.
Jeffrey Aron Schuh, Jeffrey Arthur Schuh and Quang Nguyen all appeared in Washteanw County Trial Court Judge Archie Brown’s courtroom Wednesday afternoon. The three men are accused of working together to break into numerous homes in Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Scio Township, Webster Township and Dexter Township in July and August.
Nguyen, 19, of Ypsilanti Township, and Jeffrey Arthur Schuh, 54, of Dexter, expect to be working with prosecutors on a plea deal in the next few weeks, their attorneys said Wednesday. Ronald Gold, Nguyen’s attorney, asked Brown to adjourn the pretrial hearing until 1:30 p.m. Jan. 30 for more negotiations with Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Dianna Collins.
“We need a little more time for a possible resolution,” he said in court.
The Schuhs are scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 13.
At preliminary hearings in November, a former member of the crew described how the four of them worked together to commit home invasions.
Stephen Colwell, who took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony against the trio, testified that Nguyen recruited him into the crew. He said he joined to help feed a heroin addiction.
Colwell, the younger Schuh and Nguyen broke into nine homes and the elder Schuh served as a lookout on three of those occasions, according to Colwell’s testimony. The crew allegedly stole a host of items, both conventional and strange: foreign coins, two-dollar bills, equestrian trophies, jewelry, silver goblets, electronics, cash, a guitar and custom-made brass bullets.
Colwell has pleaded guilty to five counts of second-degree home invasion and will serve between two and 15 years in prison.
Nguyen faces 18 counts of second-degree home invasion, two counts of first-degree home invasion, two counts of safe breaking and two counts of stealing a financial transaction device across 10 criminal cases. Jeffrey Aron Schuh faces 16 counts of second-degree home invasion, two counts of first-degree home invasion, two counts of safe breaking and two counts of stealing a financial transaction device.
Jeffrey Arthur Schuh faces five counts of second-degree home invasion, one count of first-degree home invasion and two counts of stealing a financial transaction device.
Nguyen and the younger Schuh face life in prison if they’re convicted on the safe breaking charge. All three are currently lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.