Rostraver robbery suspect denied self-representation
Gregory Howard
Lamont Dixon
Branndon Danilchak
Bobbi Drdul
Gregory Howard of Monessen arrives at court Monday for a hearing on charges stemming from a home invasion and robbery in Rostraver Township.
A Monessen man charged in a Rostraver Township home invasion and robbery demanded Monday to represent himself at his preliminary hearing before it was postponed after a second suspect in the case arrived in court without an attorney.
District Judge Charles Christner postponed the hearing until Dec. 1 to allow Gregory D. Howard, 46, of Monessen, and Lamont Dixon, 35, of Donora, time to secure an attorney to represent them for their alleged involvement in the Oct. 21 robbery of a 91-year-old woman from Rostraver’s Collinsburg section.
“I’m highly qualified to represent myself,” Howard said, adding he attended college.
“You keep interrupting,” Christner replied. “This is not your show. Your motion is denied.”
A third suspect, Branndon Danilchak, 27, also of Donora, is expected to waive his charges to Westmoreland County Court when the hearing reconvenes, said his attorney, Jeffrey S. Weinberg of Pittsburgh.
Howard continued to speak out in the courtroom, at one point saying that no attorney “wants to touch this case.”
Weinberg turned to Howard and said, “My advice to you is to keep your mouth shut.”
Meanwhile, Bobbi Drdul, 20, of Charleroi, is awaiting trial in Westmoreland on charges she allowed Dixon, who is her boyfriend, to borrow her car for the robbery and received some of the victim’s money and jewelry.
Rostraver police said Danilchak knocked on the woman’s door about 6:40 a.m. claiming to be a furniture salesman. The men allegedly forced their way in, knocking the woman to the floor and injuring her neck.
The men are accused of threatening her with a knife and threatening to kill her dog if she did not direct them to her valuables kept in a wall safe in her bedroom. She also was bound to her bed during the robbery.
Police accused the men of stealing $928, jewelry valued at $20,000 and rare gold coins. Police began making arrests after finding one of Drdul’s payroll sheets at the crime scene. She is charged with hindering the apprehension or prosecution of Dixon and receiving stolen property, and is detained in Westmoreland County Jail on $500,000 bond.
Danilchak, Dixon and Howard are charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, unlawful restraint, robbery, theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy. They are jailed in Westmoreland on $1 million bonds.