Suspect in robbery of Subway restaurant waives hearing

Jul. 29—An Oklahoma City man accused of robbing the Subway restaurant in Airport Drive waived a preliminary hearing Thursday and was ordered to stand trial.

Taylor L. Yahola, 24, waived the hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court on counts of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Judge Joseph Hensley set the defendant's initial appearance in a trial division for Aug. 8.

A probable-cause affidavit filed in the case states that a man entered the restaurant at Stone's Corner Plaza on June 7 wearing a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and "a red COVID mask" on his face and requested a steak and cheese sandwich before moving behind the counter, putting a handgun to the face of a female employee and demanding all of the money on hand.

The clerk gave him the money in two safes as well as a cash register, and he took her purse and cellphone as he left the business in a dark gray Chrysler 300 with Oklahoma plates.

Investigators with the Jasper County Sheriff's Department learned a couple days later that a vehicle matching that description had been in a pursuit with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol later the same day. The driver had bailed out and fled on foot but was subsequently identified as Yahola.

The affidavit states that at the time there was a warrant that had been issued for Yahola's arrest in a carjacking of the Chrysler 300 in Oklahoma City.