Stephen Roberts

SAXONBURG — An Allegheny County man is headed for trial on charges he struck a co-worker and threatened the victim with a pocket knife at a Penn Township business earlier this year.

Stephen L. Roberts, 37, of Natrona Heights was ordered held for court by District Judge Sue Haggerty at a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Saxonburg. He is facing a felony charge of aggravated assault and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and harassment.

Penn Township police officer Alyssa Mathews testified that she was called around 4 p.m. Feb. 21 for a disturbance at JK Hydraulics on Route 8. The 911 caller was the victim, a 30-year-old man.

She described the man as “panting, out of breath and (he) seemed to be very worked up.”

He told the officer that he and the suspect, who he knew only as “Steve,” had gotten into a physical altercation during which the defendant had “pulled a knife” and “pointed it at (the victim),” according to testimony.

The business owner later provided police with Roberts’ full name. The suspect had driven away before Mathews and a Middlesex Township police officer arrived. Police arrested him later that day.

Mathews spoke to and obtained written statements from two co-workers who allegedly witnessed the incident.

“Do these written statements corroborate (the victim’s) story?” prosecutor Amanda Scarpo, a county assistant district attorney, asked the officer.

“Yes,” Mathews replied.

She said the victim had two scratches — one on each side of his neck — from the altercation.

On cross-examination by Roberts’ attorney, Jacob Wyland of McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, Mathews characterized the scratches as superficial.

Scarpo, during redirect examination, asked the officer if her criminal complaint referred to the victim retreating after Roberts pulled the knife.

Reading from the complaint, Mathews said, “(The victim) advised this officer that while he was at his truck tailgate, he was backed into a corner because of the fence behind his back. (The victim) advised this officer that he yelled to fellow employees that Steve has a knife.”

Following testimony, Wyland argued that all charges should be dismissed. Specifically, he said the prosecution did not prove the elements of the most serious charge, aggravated assault.

“Merely pointing an object at another person from some unknown distance,” he said, ”is not sufficient, even on a prima facie basis, to support the theory that that was an attempt to cause a permanent, life-threatening injury.”

The state met its burden on all charges, Scarpo countered, including the top count, based on testimony and the victim’s statement.

Roberts, she argued, “pulled the knife on” the victim and “to some degree Mr. Roberts advanced on (the victim) in so far as he was pushed backward into a corner.”

The defendant, who was free on $5,000 bail in the case, is being held in the Allegheny County Jail on a probation violation stemming from his subsequent arrest on unrelated strangulation and assault charges May 15.