This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A woman charged with robbing a Salt Lake City store last month will remain behind bars in lieu of $500,000 cash bail, a judge ruled Friday.
During a Friday court hearing, Sandra Chotia-Thompson asked for supervised release from the Salt Lake County jail, but 3rd District Judge Katherine Bernards-Goodman denied the request.
A preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 28.
Police have said Chotia-Thompson, 40 — and her now-deceased alleged partner in crime, 38-year-old Kelly Fay Simons — are suspected of committing as many as nine robberies in the Salt Lake Valley going back to mid-December.
Chotia-Thompson, however, has been charged only with the robbery of The Grocery Store, 1224 S. 400 East, on Jan. 9.
Later that day, Simons was fatally shot near Liberty Park when she allegedly attempted to run down an officer from the Joint Criminal Apprehension Team with her pickup truck.
Chotia-Thompson was arrested that night. She is charged with one count of first-degree felony aggravated robbery.
On Jan. 5, a Murray police exchanged gunfire with a person believed to be Simons, following a holdup at Scaddy's Restaurant near 5430 South and 900 East. No one was hit during the firefight, when 16 rounds were fired by Officer Sean Malouf.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office on Thursday ruled that Malouf's use of deadly force was justified.