Pair robbed undercover cop of $7,500 in Frackville, leading to 20 mile chase, overnight manhunt
FRACKVILLE – Two young adults are facing a slew of charges after they robbed an undercover cop conducting a controlled drug purchase and fled towards southern Schuylkill County yesterday.
John Louis Fidanqui-Marten, 18, of Bronx, New York, and Damar Jordan Coad, 19, of the 1300 block of North 9th Street in Reading are facing felony robbery charges after the incident and subsequent 20 mile pursuit and overnight manhunt.
According to the criminal complaint, filed today in Magisterial District Judge Christina Hale’s Frackville office, several municipal, state, and federal law enforcement officers planned to conduct a controlled purchase of methamphetamine from an individual known as “Young.”
An undercover state trooper contacted “Young,” later identified as Fidanqui-Marten, via phone and text messages, arranging to purchase one pound of methamphetamine for $7,500.
The pair arranged to meet at Unity Food Mart in downtown Frackville for the purchase, where the trooper met “Young” in a BMW in the parking lot around 7:30pm.
The trooper got into the vehicle and was robbed by “Young” and a passenger, later identified as Coad, who both displayed handguns, holding the trooper at gunpoint and demanding the $7,500.
The trooper complied, handing over the cash and leaving the vehicle.
Surveillance units followed the vehicle as it headed south on Lehigh Avenue in Frackville, notifying State Police at Frackville.
The vehicle continued through the City of Pottsville, where Pottsville and Port Carbon marked units attempted to stop the vehicle.
At that point, the BMW swerved and fled south on 61 at a high rate of speed, swerving to avoid spike strips.
The BMW continued to do so until the area of Summer Valley Road near Molino, where he attempted to swerve and lost control, crashing into the woodlands on the east side of Route 61 around 8:00pm. A manhunt ensued, closing the highway down for several hours between Tilden Township and Deer Lake.
Fidanqui-Marten and Coad fled into the woodlands on foot and were apprehended around 7:45am this morning by State Police near the scene of the crash.
The pair are facing several felony charges related to robbery and were arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Hale and committed to Schuylkill County Prison unable to post $250,000 bail.
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