Robbery suspect held for court
A Luzerne Township man was held for court Monday on charges that he robbed two Uniontown convenience stores at gunpoint within approximately 15 minutes of each other on March 26. Uniontown District Justice Mark Blair ordered Lacy D. Bradley, 20, of the Solomon Trailer Court, Brownsville, held for court on two counts each of robbery, recklessly endangering another person, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license and persons not permitted to possess firearms.
Blair remanded Bradley to the Fayette County Prison in lieu of $100,000 cash bond for both sets of charges, which are contained in two separate complaints and affidavits of probable causes filed by Uniontown Police Detective Phillip Jones.
One affidavit details the robbery of the Byers Main Street Market on West Main Street and the second details the holdup of BFS Foods at 456 Morgantown St.
Gregg Byers, owner of Byers Main Street Market, testified that he was working alone in his store at 9 p.m. on March 26 when a man wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans walked in and immediately went to the rear of the store.
A minute or two later, the man was standing at the cash register with the hood over his head, panty hose over his face, a ski head band covering his mouth and a “beat up” .25-caliber revolver in his hand, Byers said.
When asked where the gun was pointed, Byers said, “steady, pointed at my chest.”
Byers said he complied with the robber’s demand by handing over money from the register. The robber also said he wanted the money from the safe, but Byers said he told the robber that there was no money in it. He said he handed the robber between $100 and $150.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Charles Gentile, Byers said the robber also told him to empty his pockets.
“I pulled out a pen knife and a lighter,” Byers said. “He forgot about the wallet.”
He said the robbery lasted about five minutes and that he didn’t get a good look at the robber’s face because it was covered by the panty hose.
He described the robber as 6-feet to 6-feet-2-inches-tall and said he knew the man was black because he could see his hands.
Following the robber’s instructions, Byers laid on the floor, but he activated a silent alarm after he heard the door close.
Several days later, Byers said he was called to the city police station by Jones and identified the sweatshirt, ski band and jeans the robber wore during the hold up.
The next prosecution witness was BFS employee Lisa Bane whose description of the robber matched the description given by Byers.
She said she was preparing to mop the floor when the man entered the store at approximately 9:15 p.m. and stood at the magazine rack. She said the robber then approached the counter and pulled an old-looking gun from his pocket.
Bane testified that the robber said: “Give me all the money. I’m not afraid to shoot.”
She said he activated a silent alarm before opening the cash register and complying with that demand.
Next, she said the robber said he wanted money from the safe, but she told him that she was not able to open it.
She laid down on the floor as per the robber’s instructions and then he left.
Bane said she also identified the robber’s clothes at the police station.
Under cross-examination, Bane said there was a customer pumping gas in the parking lot when the incident began.
Assistant Fayette County District Attorney Kimberly Kovach objected to Gentile’s questions about the unidentified customer and Blair instructed the defense attorney to “move on.”
BFS manager Diane Buncic testified that $124 was missing from the register after the robbery. She said she calculated the loss after the robbery and was not present during the incident.
Jones testified that on March 30 he was at the trailer that Bradley shared with Pam Brown to assist Redstone Township police with an unrelated incident.
He said he told Brown that Bradley was a suspect in several robberies and she gave him permission to search the residence and he found the clothes that Bradley allegedly wore during the robberies. Jones said he also found a partially full box of .25-caliber ammunition.
After finding the clothes, Jones said Bradley admitted to committing the robberies.
Jones quoted Bradley as saying: “I did it. You got me. It’s tough out here. I’m just trying to survive. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. The gun wasn’t even loaded.”
Under cross-examination, Jones said he suspected that Bradley was the robber the day of the robberies, but he didn’t have enough probable cause to obtain a search warrant for his trailer.
Redstone Township police had a search warrant and Jones said he placed Bradley in handcuffs to secure the residence while the search was being conducted.
Jones said he did not participate in the search, but saw the ski band on top of the refrigerator while he was watching Bradley.
Then he asked for and received permission from Brown to conduct his own search, Jones said. He said he found the red sweatshirt and jeans in a bedroom and the panty hose on top of a bag of garbage.
Bradley was remorseful about the hold ups, Jones noted.