Arrests made in area robberies
Three people have been arrested on robbery and related charges as police in Westmoreland and Washington counties investigate a string of robberies that occurred over the last couple weeks.
On Thursday, Rostraver Township police arrested a Fayette County man for allegedly robbing the Exxon 70 on Rostraver Road on Monday and allegedly attempting to rob the GetGo on Route 51 on Thursday. A woman was also arrested in connection with the GetGo incident.
Charles Leonard Bell, 50, of 321 Mill St., Brownsville allegedly robbed the Exxon at 3:42 a.m. Monday when he entered the gas station with his face covered, demanded money from the cash register and threatened to kill a clerk, police said.
He took just less than $200, police said.
Bell was charged with Robbery, terroristic threats, receiving stolen property and simple assault.
Police charged Bell with attempted robbery and criminal conspiracy in connection with the incident at GetGo at 2 a.m. Thursday.
Wendy Jean Victor, 22, who police said is homeless, was charged with criminal conspiracy for her alleged role in the GetGo incident.
She told police she went into the GetGo to use the restroom and check out the store, then she left and got in a car with Bell, police said. She said they pulled out of the store lot and traveled west on Finley Road. She said Bell turned the car around and put on a black sweatshirt backwards, police said. Officers pulled the car over across the street from the GetGo, police said.
Victor is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds, police said.
Police said a woman wearing a camouflaged hoodie and a black scarf covering her mouth entered the CoGo, brandished a small black handgun, demanded money from the cash register and then fled on foot. She was described as small in stature, 5 feet 2 to 5 feet 4 inches tall, police said.
Video surveillance showed that a woman matching the description of the woman involved in the CoGo incident entered the Exxon about nine minutes before it was robbed, police said in an affidavit of probable cause.
About 25 minutes before the Exxon robbery, Charleroi Regional police reported a robbery at the Sunoco at First Street and Fallowfield Avenue, township police said. The male suspect was wearing a dark hoodie backwards with two holes in the hood and a silver Dodge coupe was involved in the robbery, police said.
Township police spotted a vehicle matching the description traveling east on Finley Road at 2 a.m. Thursday. The driver, Bell, backed the car into a parking lot allegedly attempting to flee from the officers, but hit the patrol car and causing minor damage to the right side of the bumper, police said.
He was removed from the car, but allegedly fought with officers when they arrested him, police said. One officer reported sustaining a bruised hand and a second officer reported swelling on the left side of his face, police said.
Bell was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment and single counts of resisting arrest, fleeing police and criminal mischief.
In North Strabane Township in Washington County, police arrested Andrew Duncan-Augustniak, 20, of Canonsburg for allegedly robbing TJ’s Deli Mart on Washington Road at 3:42 p.m. April 6.
Duncan-Augustniak allegedly jumped over the counter and demanded cash from two employees, township police Officer Matt Schmeltz said.
He fled on foot with cash, two cartons of cigarettes and some cigars, Schmeltz said.
Two township officers who were near by responded quickly, he said. With assistance from Cecil Township Police Department officers and K-9, officers tracked Duncan-Augustniak to a home within walking distance of the store, he said.
Duncan-Augustniak fled on foot when officers arrived, but he was apprehended a short distance away, Schmeltz said.
He was arraigned on charges of robbery, flight to avoid apprehension, simple assault, theft, receiving stolen property, retail theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Charleroi Regional police said they responded to the robbery at the Sunoco at 3:29 a.m. April 4.
A black male entered the store and demanded money from a clerk and then fled with about $30, police said. He did not display a weapon, police said.
Washington police are investigating a robbery at the Valero gas station on Murtland Avenue just after 4 a.m. on March 29. Police said the suspect was a black male.
Reported robberies of a Circle-K gas station in Canton Township in Washington County and a Valero gas station in North Belle Vernon are also under investigation by police.