Man robbed by fake LDS missionaries testifies

Man robbed by fake LDS missionaries testifies


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LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Las Vegas man who was robbed in June by two men posing as Mormon missionaries said he told the pair 6:30 a.m. was a little too early for such a visit.

Terence Delucia testified at a preliminary hearing Tuesday about the home invasion and beating that he said happened June 27, after the two men knocked on his door and asked to talk about Jesus Christ.

"I felt a hand over my mouth ... I was flailing and fighting ... he got me on the ground, my chest was on the floor ... all his weight on me," Delucia said in court.

His wife and daughter said they hid in closets while the suspects reportedly pistol-whipped and threatened Delucia.

"He told me to leave my face in the chair or he was going to shoot me, so I left my face in the chair," Delucia said.

The suspects, who were wearing white dress shirts, black pants and black ties, were arrested in August after police released surveillance photos of them walking up to Delucia's house.

Robert Estall, 25, and Abraham Austin, 28, face robbery, burglary, battery and kidnapping charges. A judge is deciding whether their case should go to trial.

A spokesman with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confirmed neither suspect was a registered member of the church.

While Delucia is not facing criminal charges, prosecutors raised questions about marijuana at his home. Delucia denied that he's a drug dealer, but acknowledged he purchased the substance and said he had about an ounce of it at the house at the time of the robbery, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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