Penn Hills man charged with Homewood armed robbery
Pittsburgh Police arrested a Penn Hills man in connection with a series of recent robberies in the region.
Police were investigating a March 2 early-morning armed robbery at a bus stop near the Sunoco station on Penn Avenue in Homewood. Security footage from the Sunoco station, viewed March 6, showed the robbery suspects were in a black Acura sedan that was reported stolen, according to a criminal complaint.
One of the suspects removed his mask in the footage, and officers with the city’s robbery unit identified him as Anthony James Jr., 26, of Penn Hills.
Police said James has distinctive almond-shaped eyes and a small scar on the bridge of his nose, and that both audio and video footage from a recording device in the stolen car captured James and another man discussing and committing the March 2 robbery.
James was arrested early Thursday morning at a house on the 6500 block of Deary Street, after police were informed that an Apple Airtag attached to the car’s keys was pinging there. Clothing and other evidence linked to the robbery was found at the house along with four firearms.
James is charged with robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, simple assault, criminal conspiracy and unlawful use of an automobile.
He was denied bail and taken to the Allegheny County Jail. A preliminary hearing date is set for April 4 in District Judge James Hanley Jr’s Pittsburgh court.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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