Men arrested for 3-county robbery spree

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com

A three-county crime spree may have come to an end as three people were taken into custody early Wednesday morning in connection with at least five armed robberies in and around the Mon Valley area.
Swissvale police conducted a traffic stop around 3 a.m. Wednesday and pulled over a vehicle Monessen and Allegheny County police were looking for.
Monessen police Chief Jim Smith said the car’s license plate was captured on camera technology in the city after an armed robbery at the Sunoco gas station on Donner Avenue at 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Monessen police Officer Alan Hritz was called to Allegheny County Police station Wednesday morning as the three suspects were questioned.
Police believe the robbery spree began in Monessen at the Sunoco station Monday night when a man later identified as Rexford Enoch Prince Wright, 23, of Hagerstown, Md. is seen on surveillance footage walking up to the side of the building and standing near the propane tanks next to an entrance that is closed at that time of night.
Hritz said Wright seemed to wait for a truck to leave the parking lot while a woman, later identified as Kara Guy, 22, of Pittsburgh, was standing near the front doors of Sunoco, on the side where the gas pumps are located.
Wright waits for the parking lot to clear and walks over to Guy and they have a conversation, Hritz said, and then Guy walks away toward Schoonmaker Avenue.
Wright then walks into Sunoco alone, Hritz said, and there is no one else in the store except for the clerk.
Wright allegedly pulls out a double-barreled shotgun from a backpack immediately and walks straight to the cashier and demands money, Hritz said. Then Wright asks to be taken to the manager’s office, Hritz said.
Another person walked into the store at that time and the doors are right beside the manager’s office, Hritz said, and Wright left at that time. Hritz believes Wright left because he was interrupted.
According to Hritz, police believe Elijah Sayon, 22, of Hagerstown, Md., was driving the get-a-way vehicle, which was parked either on Schoonmaker Avenue or on Ninth Street.
Another armed robbery was reported less than an hour later that night on Route 51 in Rostraver at the Marathon gas station, also by a man using a sawed-off shotgun. Rostraver police Chief Greg Resetar reported there appeared to be three people in the vehicle leaving the scene.
Less than eight hours after that, just before 5 a.m. Tuesday, Kennedy Township police were called to a convenience store on Steubenville Pike for a report of an armed robbery.
According to Kennedy Township police, the male suspect — identified as Wright — used the same method as the robber in Monessen and Rostraver. He entered with a backpack, swung it around to his front, pulled out a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun and demanded money.
Kennedy Township police said they were looking for a Chrysler Pacifica with a Maryland registration related to the robbery.
Late Tuesday night, sometime around 11 p.m., another armed robbery was reported — this time at 7-Eleven in Monongahela on Dry Run Road. Again, the same method of a man carrying a shotgun in a backpack was reported.
Smith said there was also a robbery in South Fayette during this time and in all the known robberies, the details have been consistent. When Wright, Sayon and Guy were taken into custody, Smith said, the shotgun, which was very distinctive, was found.
In Monessen, Hritz sought warrants for the arrests of Wright, Sayon and Guy from Magisterial District Judge Wayne Vlasic Wednesday afternoon. He is unsure when their arraignments would be as they remained in Allegheny County custody.
In Monessen, Wright will be charged with robbery, person not to possess a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, making terroristic threats, possessing an instrument of crime, simple assault, theft, receiving stolen property and recklessly endangering another person.
Sayon and Guy face charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit simple assault, conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit receiving stolen property, conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment, conspiracy to possess an instrument of crime and conspiracy to make terroristic threats.
In Kennedy Township, only Wright and Sayon are charged. Police there said the men face robbery and related charges.
Wright is already in the middle of a robbery case in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
In June 2019, he was charged with robbery of a vehicle, robbery-threat to inflict immediate bodily harm, three counts of receiving stolen property and resisting arrest by University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Police in Monroeville.
Wright was held on $5,000 bail from June 2019 until March 2020 when his bail was changed to non-monetary by county Judge Jeffrey Manning and he was set free.
Wright was scheduled for several non-jury trial dates that have been either moved or continued, including one in June. His non-jury trial in front of administrative Judge Jill Rangos is now scheduled for Oct. 7.
No bail has been set yet for any of the three suspects in the current robbery cases.