Apr 25, 2004 By Steve Ferris 2 min read

A magistrate Friday ordered Craig Anthony Howard, 34, of Uniontown to stand trial on robbery and other charges filed by Uniontown police alleging that he stole a woman’s cash and credit cards from a Walnut Street apartment. In addition to robbery, District Justice Mark Blair held Howard for court on charges of simple assault, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

Blair returned Howard to the Fayette County Prison in lieu of $15,000 percentage bail.

The victim in the Sept. 3, 2003, incident, Melinda Laing, testified that her upstairs neighbor Paul Johnson and another man, who she later identified at Howard, knocked on her door at approximately 12:30 a.m.

Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kelley, Laing said Johnson told her the man was his cousin and asked if he could use her bathroom. She said she let him in and pointed him to the bathroom, but he entered the living room and grabbed her purse.

She said she watched as he removed her wallet, which contained $150, credit cards and other items.

“I was shocked. I just stood there and let him do whatever,” Laing said.

At some point, Laing said, she snapped out of it and yelled at him before he fled. She said she grabbed and tore his shirt, but he “palmed” her in the face, knocking her to the floor as he escaped.

Under cross-examination by Public Defender David W. Kaiser, Laing said she did not see the suspect’s picture in a photo array police showed her, but several days later she thought she saw him standing in front of the Fayette County Domestic Relations office as she was driving by, and she notified police.

Detective Phillip Jones said that man was taken into custody, but when Laing got a closer look at him again at the police station, she said he was not the robber. He said she then picked Howard out of a second photo array.

Additionally, Blair continued a hearing and maintained a $15,000 percentage bail in a second robbery case against Howard.

In that case, Howard faces two counts of robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, theft, receiving stolen property and harassment for allegedly pulling a woman out of her pickup truck and taking $94 from the vehicle March 7 on Dunlap Street.

A new hearing date has not yet been set.