Police: Rostraver convenience store robbers are suspects in other holdups
From left, Charles Leonard Bell and Wendy Jean Victor
Charles L. Bell
Wendy Jean Victor
A Fayette County man and homeless woman arrested Thursday in connection with a convenience store robbery in Rostraver Township are now suspects in more than 10 holdups, including one last month at a Burger King in Bentleyville.
Bentleyville police Chief Richard Young said Friday the string of holdups share similar evidence, and that many police departments are comparing notes and considering filing more charges against Charles L. Bell, 50, of Brownsville, and Wendy Jean Victor, 22.
“They all seem to tie in,” said Young, who plans to bring criminal charges against Bell and Victor in the Burger King case possibly next week.
The suspect in that case entered the fast-food restaurant carrying an Uzi-style weapon and left with an undisclosed amount of cash. A similar weapon was shown in at least one other robbery, Young said.
Charleroi Regional police Officer Chad Zelinsky said he is preparing to file charges next week against Bell in connection with a robbery of the Charleroi Sunoco at First Street and McKean Avenue about 3:30 a.m. April 4. He is reviewing surveillance video to see if Victor can be tied to that crime.
Zelinsky said he believed the couple drove straight from the Sunoco to an Exxon in Rostraver, which was robbed by a man matching the description of the male suspect in the Charleroi case.
Rostraver police Chief Greg Resetar said his officers were able to identify the getaway car’s license plate and the owner of the vehicle from an earlier robbery.
Township police recognized the car while it traveled east on Finley Road about 2 p.m. Thursday, and they followed it to a lot, where Bell got out of the vehicle and allegedly assaulted two officers.
Resetar said investigators believe Bell and Victor were en route at the time to rob a nearby GetGo at Interstate 70 and Route 51.
He said the same car appears at a CoGo’s on Route 51 when it was robbed April 1, and township police were still gathering evidence in that case.
Resetar said he met with state troopers in Uniontown who believe Bell and Victor to be suspects in four recent cases in Fayette County. Investigators were comparing notes to determine if the two were involved in a March 29 robbery at a Sunoco A-Plus store in North Belle Vernon.
Young said Bell appears to have worn a hooded sweatshirt backward with holes cut out of the hood to allow him to see. A man with a similar description robbed a Valero in Washington about 4 a.m. March 29.
He said police received information the two suspects were under investigation in yet other robbery in Allegheny County.
Young and Zelinsky said there isn’t a rush to charge Bell because he is being held in Westmoreland County jail on $500,000 bond set by District Judge Charles Christner in the Rostraver Exxon case, as well as on a state parole detainer.
He is charged by Rostraver police with robbery with the threat of serious injury, attempted robbery, terroristic threats, simple assault, receiving stolen property, aggravated assault, attempted assault, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment and fleeing or attempting to elude police.
Christner sent Victor to the same jail on $200,000 bond on conspiracy charges. She is accused of entering the Exxon store to case it and make small purchases while Bell was outside in a 2004 Dodge Stratus, court records show.