NEBRASKA CITY – An Otoe County judge bound over Detharoun Sihakom, 53, of Tecumseh to stand trial for armed robbery at Vape Town in Syracuse on May 12.

At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Otoe County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Brian Briley said video footage at a bank in the area of Vape Town showed Sihakom prior to the Mother’s Day robbery. He testified that Sihakom admitted to being in Syracuse that day, but denied he was the person in video footage at Vape Town.

Judge David Partsch said the state had met its burden of probable cause at the hearing because of witness descriptions of black clothing that were similar to clothing found when deputies searched Sihakom’s Tecumseh residence. The judge noted that a Syracuse resident told deputies he saw the black-clad man walk from the direction of Vape Town south through the Williams Park area.

 

Video footage from the OPPD office building shows the black-clad man crossing Highway 50 toward Casey’s. The Riverstone Bank footage shows a masked man walk past after the robbery. Deputy Briley said the unmasked image of Sihakom would have been taken prior to the robbery.

Briley said the lone store clerk was forced to a back room at gunpoint. Her hands and legs were bound with cords. He said some cash and a couple of vape pens were stolen from the store.

Sihakom attempted twice to address the judge, but was prevented by Public Defender Michael Ziskey.

Ziskey noted that the only eye witness to the robbery has not identified Sihakom as the culprit. He said authorities did not find items stolen from Vape Town when the Tecumseh residence was searched.

He said the store clerk's description of a man with an Asian accent resulted in Sihakom becoming a suspect because he is an "Asian-looking" man who had been photographed in Syracuse that day.