Man arrested, another sought in alleged stickup
One man was arrested and another is being sought in a suspected armed robbery in Butler.
No one was injured in the Thursday morning stickup at a West New Castle Street apartment building, Butler police said.
Braden T. Stevenson, 18, who has no known address, was captured later that night and is in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail. His alleged accomplice, Darrin A. Hutchens, 47, of Butler, is wanted on an arrest warrant.
The victim, 30-year-old Jessica Trinkley, who has no known address, told police that Stevenson robbed her at gunpoint about 6 a.m. at the building on the 400 block of West New Castle Street.
She said she was in an apartment when Stevenson broke in and pointed a black handgun at her, according to court documents. He demanded money.
Trinkley identified Hutchens as being with Stevenson.
A 30-year-old woman, who police described as a witness, told investigators that Trinkley “appeared to be frozen” during the holdup, documents said.
The witness, saying she was concerned for Trinkley's safety, reached into the victim's pocket and gave Stevenson about $100 in currency, according to a police affidavit.
Moments later Stevenson allegedly threw an unknown amount of money to Hutchens and fled.
The witness said she also recognized Stevenson and Hutchens.
She and Trinkley recalled that after the robbery, Hutchens told them he did not want them to call police.
“At one point,” the affidavit said, “Hutchens had a machete in his hand and threatened to kill everyone in the apartment if they called police.”
A chance traffic stop more than 12 hours later led to Stevenson's arrest, said police Deputy Chief David Adam.
Police said the defendant was a passenger in the car that patrol officers stopped about 11:10 p.m. Thursday after the driver ran a stop sign at Walnut and Franklin streets.
By then, police had an arrest warrant for Stevenson.
He was arraigned on charges of robbery, burglary, reckless endangerment and simple assault.
Police have an arrest warrant for Hutchens on charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and terroristic threats.
