Weekend crime spree ends in arrests
A man and woman are behind bars after blazing a trail of crime in Western Pennsylvania, leaving in their wake a string of shootings, break-ins and stolen vehicles, authorities said.
Among the scores of victims in the violent weekend crime spree were two men — one of them 84 years old — robbed, badly beaten and left hospitalized with serious injuries.
The suspects — 25-year-old Tyler M. Amos of Cochranton, Crawford County, and 38-year-old Brandy Mae Rombold of Ellwood City — were eventually arrested in Ohio without a fight.
The cross-state capture was aided in part by the GPS tracking device that was on board their final getaway vehicle — an SUV stolen from a Cranberry Township home, according to investigators.
“We're glad it ended like it did, with no further injuries,” Harrison County (Ohio) Sheriff Joe Myers said Sunday, just an hour after his deputies helped nab Amos.
About 20 hours earlier, deputies had arrested Rombold.
The defendants face a long list of felonies including attempted homicide, robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and burglary. They were returned to Pennsylvania on Sunday and are in the Lawrence County Jail on $250,000 bail each.
But authorities acknowledged they are still investigating if the pair committed other crimes during the spree.
“We believe there are possibly more burglaries that haven't been reported yet,” state police Cpl. Tim Morando said this morning.
Police also have obtained an arrest warrant for a third suspect, Donald G. McClain III, 45, of Ellwood City; however, information about his involvement with the others was not immediately available.
State police first learned of the alleged crime spree about 8:20 a.m. Saturday when the suspects burglarized Cable Hardwoods, a saw mill on Portersville Road in Perry Township, Lawrence County — just west of the Butler County line.
The 60-year-old owner made an unplanned stop at his business and discovered a door to one of his sheds was opened. He was confronted by the armed suspects when he went to inspect, police said.
One of the suspects fired a shotgun.
The owner ran to his car but a second gunshot hit the vehicle. The defendants forced him into an office building where he was “held at gunpoint and threatened,” according to a police report, “prior to being robbed and beaten.”
The suspects allegedly used a baseball bat, gun, fist, hands and feet to pummel the victim.
“The (pair) then attempted to shoot the 60-year-old victim,” the report said, but the gun “misfired.”
During the altercation, an 84-year-old man, identified only as a family member of the owner, showed up to feed the cats at the business.
Rombold immediately held that man at gunpoint, too, police said. He was robbed of his wallet and badly beaten by both suspects.
Amos and Rombold drove off in the business owner's
Toyota Scion, according to authorities.
Despite serious injuries, police said, the owner managed to crawl through the woods to a nearby home to get help. A medical helicopter later flew him to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
His condition was not known this morning.
The older man was taken by ambulance to Ellwood City Hospital, police said, where he was treated and released.
The suspects are believed to have ditched the stolen car in a nearby field. Authorities later found it burned.
Police allege Amos and Rombold fled that area in her Jeep Liberty, which eventually was dropped off at a home in North Sewickley Township, Beaver County.
Investigators believe the suspects also stole a Ford Expedition from an auto body shop in the Ellwood City area. They dumped that vehicle in New Sewickley, Beaver County.
During the alleged spree, the pair burglarized a home on Hummingbird Hill in Cranberry Township. They stole at least two firearms and a 2016 Toyota Highlander, police said.
The suspects eventually drove to Cadiz in northeastern Ohio, where Harrison County deputy sheriffs spotted the white Highlander, which happened to be equipped with a GPS tracking system.
Police used the high-tech device to their advantage.
“We got a call from Pennsylvania State Police
(about 7:30 p.m.),” Myers said, “saying they had tracked the Highlander here.”
It didn't take deputies long to spot the vehicle on a secluded road used to access natural gas pipeline drilling sites.
Amos and Rombold were out of the vehicle.
“They were trying to disperse the loot they got,” Myers said, “in the woods.”
Authorities believe the pair was there to dump items that they considered having little monetary value.
By the time the suspects saw the deputies, it was too late for Rombold.
“She surrendered immediately,” Myers said.
Amos took off running into the dense woods. Deputies gave chase but to no avail.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol later spearheaded the manhunt operation, deploying a helicopter and canines to search for Amos.
The wanted man managed to elude capture through the night and into Sunday morning. But his luck ultimately ran out.
A motorist about 9 a.m. notified authorities after spotting Amos on County Line Road, still in Harrison County.
By the time deputies and Ohio state police caught sight of him, he had again dashed into woods off Route 22. Authorities said he was captured several hours later, about 3 p.m., in neighboring Jefferson County.
Amos gave up peacefully.
“I think he was tired,” Myers said.
Pennsylvania State Police eventually dispatched officers to Ohio to gather more information and possibly to interview the defendants.
Myers said he believed that Rombold was cooperating with Pennsylvania investigators.
Police here also were anxious to process the Highlander for any evidence.
“There were firearms and knickknack stuff in (the vehicle),” Myers said. “I think I also saw a coat in there.”