Cudjoe Young rejected, accepted, then rejected offers in robbery case involving Mercedes Vega, who was later found burned, beaten, and shot in 2023
Court documents reveal that the Arizona man accused of robbing exotic dancers at gunpoint and later killing one of the victims repeatedly shifted his position on plea deals in the robbery cases — including one that could have reduced the charges to a low-level felony with minimal prison time.
In 2021, prosecutors offered 29-year-old Cudjoe Young a deal to plead guilty to disorderly conduct in exchange for 2½ years in prison followed by probation, according to a joint pretrial statement obtained by NBC News.
Weeks later, Young told prosecutors he wanted to accept the offer, but during a court hearing, he changed his mind again and rejected it.
Young faces up to 36 years in prison for charges of armed robbery in October 2020 and attempted armed robbery the following month. The pretrial statement does not explain his repeated reversals.
Once described by his attorneys as an aspiring professional football player, Young is also charged with two co-defendants in the killing of robbery victim Mercedes Vega.
On April 17, 2023, Vega, 22, was found beaten, burned, and shot in an abandoned car on an interstate outside Phoenix — less than two years after Young turned down the disorderly conduct plea.
Young has pleaded not guilty to both the robbery and murder charges. Co-defendant Sencere Hayes has also pleaded not guilty, while the third suspect, Jared Gray, has not yet been arraigned.
Authorities have not identified a motive, but Vega’s family believes she was killed to silence her. She had been scheduled to testify in the armed robbery case on the day she was murdered, according to her mother, Erika Pillsbury.
Her parents have said she might still be alive if the robbery cases had not been delayed and if she had received better protection while awaiting trial.
A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to comment. However, in a recent motion, the deputy county attorney prosecuting the robbery cases accused Young of trying to manipulate the court into delaying his trial by attempting to change attorneys.
“It has been almost five years since the crimes alleged in this case, and justice has been continually denied,” the prosecutor wrote.
Aaron Reed, Young’s current lawyer, declined to discuss the earlier plea offers, which were made before he took the case, or the delays. In a filing, he described the prosecutor’s claims as “off base and false.”
According to the pretrial statement, Young rejected three plea deals between August 2021 and December 2024. On Jan. 27, 2022, about a month after rejecting the disorderly conduct deal, he agreed to accept it, and all parties returned after lunch for a change-of-plea hearing. He again turned it down.
In another proposal, prosecutors offered to reduce the charges to attempted armed robbery with a maximum 3½-year sentence. Young initially indicated he would accept but asked for time to settle personal matters, later rejecting the offer in court.
The final offer, made Dec. 18, 2024 — nearly two years after Vega’s death — proposed 7½ years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated assault. Young declined, saying it “wouldn’t be fruitful.”
The robbery trial, set for last month, was postponed after Young asked to dismiss his attorney. He initially planned to represent himself but appeared at his murder arraignment with Reed, who now represents him in both cases.
Court documents, police reports, and interviews show that three dancers from Le Girls, a Phoenix strip club, told police they were robbed or nearly robbed by a masked gunman after late shifts between November 2019 and November 2020. Young was charged in two of the incidents, including Vega’s case.
Vega’s family said she moved from her Phoenix apartment to a supposedly safer Tempe home after the robbery. Authorities believe she was abducted from the parking garage of that new building on April 16, 2023.
The next day, a motorist spotted a burning Chevrolet Malibu on Interstate 10 near Tonopah, about an hour west of Phoenix. Inside, authorities found Vega’s body.
The medical examiner ruled her death the result of conflagration, blunt force trauma, and gunshot wounds, also noting the smell of bleach in her throat.
A probable cause statement alleges that Young arranged for two people to pick up the Malibu after it was purchased online and may have bought his co-defendants’ plane tickets from Tennessee to Arizona.
Fingerprints found in the Malibu and in Vega’s car were linked to his co-defendants, authorities said.
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Katie is a senior who has been on staff for three years. Her favorite type of stories to write is reviews and features. Katie’s favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry.
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