A Jefferson County Court jury will determine whether a 16-year-old Chaumont girl was the "mastermind" behind an armed home invasion on Cooper Street in January or if she was forced into the act by three Fort Drum soldiers who threatened to kill her if she did not participate.

Sara N. Rodrigues, Old Town Road, is on trial for her alleged involvement in a Jan. 5 robbery at 554 Cooper St., Apt. 7, in which the victims were duct-taped at gunpoint, were assaulted and had their wallets stolen.

She faces more than 30 counts in a grand jury indictment handed up in March, including 10 counts of robbery and four counts of burglary, as well as assault, conspiracy and unlawful-imprisonment charges, among others.

According to Assistant District Attorney Nicole L. Boshart's opening statement Tuesday, Miss Rodrigues was at the upstairs apartment of Travis Vulgamore on Jan. 5, preparing to celebrate her 16th birthday, when three masked men burst into the apartment.

Two of the men displayed what appeared to be handguns and demanded to know, Miss Boshart claims, "Where was the money? Where was the stuff? Where were the drugs?" The men also threatened to shoot the people inside the apartment, she said.

According to the indictments, Mr. Vulgamore and Matthew Covington were tied up with duct tape during the robbery in which wallets containing credit cards were stolen from the pair, as well as from Donovan Walton. It is further alleged that Mr. Covington was struck on the head with a hard object, while a fourth man, Aaron Murphy, was kicked in the torso.

The assailants took Miss Rodrigues with them after the robbery, leading the victims to believe "she had been kidnapped by guys with guns who had just threatened to shoot them if they didn't turn over the money," Miss Boshart said. The victims reported the kidnapping to police, although they knew the victim only as Sara.

Miss Boshart said police used Mr. Vulgamore's cell phone records to contact Miss Rodrigues, but she told them her name was Sara Rogers and provided police with a false date of birth. She also allegedly told police "she didn't want to get involved" and was otherwise uncooperative.

Miss Boshart said Miss Rodrigues never reported that she had been kidnapped and eventually gave police three different statements about what happened.

The prosecution contends that Miss Rodrigues set up the robbery of Mr. Vulgamore, whom Miss Boshart described as her "drug dealer," and that she used text-messaging to describe the apartment and the number of people inside to the robbers just before the act occurred.

Miss Rodrigues's attorney, Krystal A. Rupert, said the teenager withheld information from police because she was afraid of the assailants, whom she described as "active-duty soldiers, who were armed and threatened people."

She said it was not the 16-year-old girl who controlled the older men, but the men who controlled her by threatening to "put a bullet" into her if she cooperated with police.

"She was afraid of the other people involved in this crime," Mrs. Rupert told the jury.

Lorenzo D. Best, 24, Tyrell K. Frater, 22, and Kristopher W. Brown, 23, all of Fort Drum, also were indicted in the robbery. Mr. Brown pleaded guilty July 29 to second-degree robbery and is awaiting sentencing. Mr. Frater pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to the same charge and is due to be sentenced Monday. Charges against Mr. Best are pending.