Homeless woman guilty of robbery
WAYNESBURG – A homeless woman who robbed an elderly Franklin Township woman in March after the woman let her into her home to use the telephone was found guilty Tuesday by a Greene County Court jury.Mary Ann McChesney, 33, was found guilty of all charges against her, including robbery, theft, unlawful restraint, simple assault and conspiracy.McChesney and Matthew Gabriel Barth, 29, also listed as homeless, were charged with robbing Anna Mayhle, 85, March 3 at Mayhle’s home on Greenhouse Road.Police said McChesney knocked on Mayhle’s door between 6 and 6:30 p.m. that day and asked to use the telephone, claiming she had run out of gas.Mayhle allowed McChesney to enter the home. McChesney then pushed Mayhle into a recliner and held her by the wrists in a seated position while Barth entered and ransacked the home in search of money.Police said Barth had a gun. The two fled with Mayhle’s purse and about $1,400. Mayhle was not injured.Neighbors’ description of the robbers’ vehicle and collaboration between state and Waynesburg police led to the couple’s arrests.In arrest documents, state police Trooper Jay Hundertmark said he received a description of a vehicle parked near the home from neighbors. They described a light colored, boxy-style vehicle covered in mud parked on the roadway.Hundertmark said he discussed the robbery that day with Waynesburg Patrolman Tom Ankrom, who indicated he had stopped McChesney and Barth in a vehicle of the same description within the past month.Ankrom said he believed the couple were living in the vehicle and noted he had charged Barth with theft from a motor vehicle in the borough.Police arrested the pair at 300 Moffit Road near Dilliner May 14.Barth pleaded guilty to the charges against him in August and was sentenced to 41 months to 10 years in prison.McChesney’s trial, which began Monday, was before Greene County Judge William Nalitz. The jury began deliberating Tuesday morning and reached a verdict in about an hour and 20 minutes.McChesney will be sentenced following the preparation of a pre-sentence report. She remains in the Greene County Jail on $35,000 bond.